BLOOMSBURY yesterday said it was looking to books such as the biography of US investment guru Warren Buffett to help drive its sales in the run-up to Christmas.
The firm also picked out the latest book from actor John Thaw's widow, Sheila Hancock, to be a strong festive performer.
In its three monthly trading update yesterday, Bloomsbury said the relative low price of books would help insulate the busin
ess from the economic downturn.
It said: "Whilst the impact of the credit crisis will be far reaching in the global economy over the coming months, the group nevertheless has a strong publishing programme in the lead up to Christmas."
The firm said it was "confident that, with their relatively low retail prices, books will continue to be in demand".
Buffett's biography, The Snowball, by Alice Shroeder, immediately topped online retailer Amazon's bestseller chart after its release a fortnight ago.
Bloomsbury – which published the Harry Potter books – said JK Rowling's Tales of Beedle the Bard and Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard could also sell well in the run-up to Christmas.
Bloomsbury said other big titles would include Ben Schott's Almanac 2009 and Michelin-starred chef Heston Blumenthal's Big Fat Duck Cookbook.
Bloomsbury said it had performed in line with expectations during the three months to 30 September.
Khaled Hosseini's best-sellers The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns – which have sold more than four million copies – underpinned a 34 per cent rise in adult sales to £20.5 million during the first half this year.
Bloomsbury has also announced a near-£8m deal to create a new Anglo-Arabic publishing house in the Middle East. It will be based in Doha, Qatar.
Nigel Newton, the firm's founder and chief executive, said: "Our aim is not simply to publish in the region, but also internationally to identify and nurture literary talent."
Analyst Lorna Tilbian at Numis Securities said: "As with all media companies, 2009 earnings will not be immune from a severe recession, although books are less cyclical than other areas of the economy."
Numis is forecasting Bloomsbury to make £10.5m of pre-tax profits during 2008, compared with £18m for the year before, when results were boosted by the release of Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows, the final installment in the series of books about the boy wizard.
Newton founded Bloomsbury in 1986 and floated the company in 1994, using the £5.5m he raised to set up the company's paperback and children's lists.
A £6.1m rights issue in 1998 was used to launch Bloomsbury USA, the company's American arm, and expand the company's electronic reference operations.
Companies taken over by Bloomsbury include A&C Black in 2000 and Walker Publishing in 2004.
Shares in Bloomsbury rose 1 per cent to 174p yesterday.
The full article contains 474 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
