Hachette net sales up 4.2% in 2012 Q3

Hachette Livre (Lagardère Publishing) delivered net sales of €626M, up 4.2% in reported terms and up 0.1% like-for-like, says official statement by the company on Tuesday.

Of note during the third quarter had been the stellar performance by General Literature, which rose sharply in France (+12.4%), the UK (+17%), and the US (+7.3%), thanks to the release of JK Rowling’s The Casual Vacancy on September 27. This solid performance by General Literature helped offset the slowdown in the company’s education business in France, Spain, and the UK. Digital continues to grow within the publishing division, accounting for 20% of total third-quarter Adult trade book sales in both the US and the UK, representing 6.4% of total net sales for Hachette Livre.

While net revenues were up 6% in the third quarter, on a year to date basis HBG’s sales are still below the prior year. Digital sales at HBG increased 3% compared with the third quarter of 2011. Digital represents 20% of HBG's net sales, consistent with last year.

HBG had 184 titles – including 27 #1s – on the New York Times bestseller list thus far in 2012. We have surpassed our year-end total of 182 bestselling titles in 2011. In addition, 59 titles hit the New York Times ebook bestseller list. The key titles driving HBG sales for the third quarter include LOW PRESSURE by Sandra Brown, Change Your Words by Joyce Meyer, I Declare by Joel Osteen, I, Michael Bennett by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge, Nevermore by James Patterson, The Casual Vacancy by JK Rowling, and The Best of Me by Nicholas Sparks.