Lagardère announced their 2022 full-year revenue and profits today. Highlights are as follows:
At Hachette Book Group:
Hachette Book Group CEO @Michael Pietsch said, “Hachette Book Group’s revenue in 2022 was up from 2021 thanks to the acquisition of Workman Publishing, and declined slightly from last year’s peak like for like. Especially strong sales for Verity by Colleen Hoover, Run, Rose, Run by Dolly Parton and James Patterson, and The Witcher series by Andrzej Sapkowski, and in our Audio and Third-Party Distribution businesses, helped offset lower backlist sales and a decline in the hardcover format. Despite strong sell through and careful cost management, 2022 profits were lower than 2021’s high levels due to sharply rising manufacturing and freight costs.
Highlights for the year included #1 New York Times bestsellers from Kwame Alexander, David Baldacci, Jennifer Lynn Barnes, Holly Black, Michael Connelly, Elin Hildebrand, and Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child, among others. And our authors received major honors – a Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Chanda Prescod-Weinstein, a James Beard Award for Melissa Martin, National Book Critics Circle awards for Clint Smith, Rebecca Donner, and Jeremy Atherton Lin, a Dayton Literary Peace Prize for Clint Smith, a Grammy Award for John Lewis, and a Nobel for Svante Pääbo.
Our 2023 kicked off with Amina Luqman-Dawson’s Freewater winning both the Newbery Medal and the Coretta Scott King Book Award. #1 bestseller Michael Connelly will be honored as a Grandmaster by the Mystery Writers of America, and Walter Mosley will receive a Diamond Dagger from the Crime Writers Association. 2023 is the 30th anniversary of Workman’s BrainQuest program, which we’re celebrating with a major program of new titles and formats. And we have much-anticipated bestsellers coming in the first half of 2023, including David Baldacci’s Simply Lies, Laura Dern and Diane Ladd’s Honey, Baby, Mine, Elin Hilderbrand’s The Five-Star Weekend, T.D. Jakes Disruptive Thinking, and James Patterson’s Cross Down.”
At Hachette Livre:
Hachette Livre delivered revenue of €2.748 billion for full-year 2022, up 5.8% as reported and down 1.9% like for like (excluding consolidation and exchange rate impacts) over 2021. “Amid a market downturn and high inflation, Lagardère Publishing maintained a very high level of like-for-like revenue,” according to Lagardère’s press release.
The figures below are on a like for like basis:
France: revenue in France contracted by 5.8% in a declining market, reflecting a softer performance from the General Literature segment, due to a lighter release schedule in the wake of exceptional results in 2021. In the Illustrated Books segment, the recovery in tourism and the success of Children and Young Adult bestsellers Captive by Sarah Rivens and Heartstopper by Alice Oseman did not fully offset the absence of a new Asterix album in 2022 (latest release in fourth quarter 2021).
United States: Revenue in the United States was down 2.2% in a sharply declining market. “Bestseller sales fuelled high activity levels in the first three quarters of 2022 thanks to the exceptional performance of Colleen Hoover’s Verity and the success of James Patterson and Dolly Parton’s Run, Rose, Run.”
United Kingdom: In the UK, activity grew by 3.4% in a slightly declining market. The success of the Adult Trade segment mainly reflected the sales of bestsellers (Colleen Hoover’s Verity and Ali Hazelwood’s The Love Hypothesis), popular titles on TikTok. “Business was also supported by a good backlist performance, with the Heartstopper series and Delia Owens’ Where the Crawdads Sing.”
Spain/Latin America: revenue in Spain/Latin America was up 7.2%. In Spain, sales were driven by the Education segment, with the start of a new cycle of curriculum reform. In Mexico, the activity is recovering after two very challenging years, with growth driven by higher sales of dictionaries and literature titles.
Partworks: revenue from sales of Partworks was down 3.4%, due to a weaker contribution from backlist collections coupled with a slightly less dynamic launch campaign than in 2021.
Digital: in 2022, digital audiobooks accounted for 4.3% of Lagardère Publishing’s total revenue (versus 3.8% in 2021), and ebooks accounted for 7.8% of the division’s total revenue, versus 7.7% in 2021.
Recurring EBIT: the Publishing division reported recurring EBIT of €302 million, down €49 million after exceptional 2021 performance. The change is attributable to “lower like-for-like revenue levels in an unfavorable market context, as well as to the impact of acute inflationary pressure on production (paper, printing, etc.), freight and personnel costs.” These impacts were largely offset by operational improvements and efficient cost control management.
“Profitability came out at a highly satisfactory 11.0%,” states the release, ”in line with the outlook and above the historical pre-Covid performance (1.8 percentage points higher than in 2019.”
At Lagardère:
Lagardère reported “consolidated revenue of €6,929 billion, up sharply by 28.3%, and recurring EBIT at an impressive €438 million (versus €249 million in 2021).
First quarter 2023 results will be announced on April 18.
For more details, read Lagardère’s press release.