Harry Potter firm looks to future

Bloomsbury has published the last of its Harry Potter novels

Publisher Bloomsbury says it is now in the "post Harry Potter era", after it published the last in the series of the best-selling fantasy novels in 2007.

Reporting its 2007 results, its pre-tax profit more than tripled to £17.86m - from £5.2m in 2006, a year when there was no book about the young wizard.

As well as Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, it said Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner had sold well.

The firm said 2008 had started well with "a strong pipeline of new titles".

The global success of the Harry Potter books has historically generated bumper profits for Bloomsbury, but the company is now entering a new phase.

'Strong pipeline'

Chief executive Nigel Newton said: "We are now well positioned for the post Harry Potter era.

"We have reduced overhead costs, are successfully developing new business areas in specialist publishing, and have a strong pipeline of titles."

Its turnover for 2007 also doubled, to £150.21m from £74.8m in 2006.

The firm said other strong sellers included Mr Hosseini's A Thousand Splendid Suns, and Jonathan Littell's Die Wohlgesinnten.

However, not all experts believe the Harry Potter-effect has quite ended.

A note from Numis Media Analysts said: "While the final Harry Potter book was released in 2007, we believe the group will be able profitably to mine the franchise for several years, including a paperback edition of Harry Potter 7 [The Deathly Hallows] possibly this year.

"Beyond this, we expect the group to diversify either through organic growth or acquisitions."