Bloomsbury has reported a record year for sales, as the Harry Potter publisher said the increase in reading during the pandemic had become “permanent” after lockdowns eased.

The company benefited substantially from covid restrictions when homebound consumers turned to new hobbies, including reading, to pass the time.

Bloomsbury’s chief executive, Nigel Newton, said it was clear that people who picked up a reading habit during the pandemic were continuing to buy books, helping to push annual sales up 24% to record highs of £230m for the year to the end of February.

Bloomsbury said readers were picking up titles by Sarah J Maas – the American author whose fantasy books include Crescent City, Throne of Glass, and the A Court of Thorns and Roses series – with sales of her books soaring 86% over the year.

Meanwhile, sales of Harry Potter books grew by 5% in the run-up to the 25th anniversary of the first title in the series, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.

The books-to-paperclips chain WH Smith also reported an increase in sales, saying the recovery in travel after the lockdowns had helped boost sales at its outlets in train stations and airports.

It contributed to a leap in group revenue for the 15 weeks to June, which it said was above 2019 levels for the first time since the start of the global pandemic.

WH Smith said it expected its travel division to continue to thrive through the summer trading period, as more people took advantage of looser restrictions for domestic and international travel.

Source: theguardian.com