Canongate profit up 7.6% in 2016

UK publisher Canongate has revealed a profit increase of 7.6% to £128,506 (A$209,050) for the year ending December 2016, reports the Bookseller.

Overall turnover for the publisher rose about one percent to £8.5m (A$13.8m), which was boosted by a six percent increase in backlist sales.

CEO Jamie Byng said strong backlist sales demonstrated the ‘real health’ of the business. ‘[2016] was another solid year for Canongate, one that saw us building on the return to profit we enjoyed in 2015,’ said Byng. ‘It was the performance of our backlist which helped our margins and delivered a profit to the bottom line. It also bodes well for the long-term health of the business as we continue to add strong-selling titles to the backlist each year and invest more time and money into growing this highly profitable engine of the business.’

Frontlist sales were up two percent due largely to Matt Haig’s memoir Reasons to Stay Alive, which sold 130,000 copies in 2016. Audio and rights sales were also up, while ebook sales were slightly down.

Category: International news