Harry Potter publisher says results will beat expectations - Nov. 24, 2000

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Potter publisher upbeat

November 24, 2000: 8:07 a.m. ET

U.K.'s Bloomsbury says magical Harry Potter series to work wonders on profit

LONDON (CNNfn) - No muggles are muddling things up at this company.

Bloomsbury PLC, the British publisher of the hugely popular Harry Potter books, said Friday its full-year sales would be above market expectations.

The news cast a spell on the London market's muggles - non-magical people, according to the terminology of J.K. Rowling's Potter books - who chased the London-based company's shares up 5.2 percent to 880 pence by midday, bringing its market value to about £148 million ($206 million). The publisher's shares earlier hit a year high of 980 pence.

"Trading is strong across the Group, demonstrating the broad base of the company's activities and the benefits of our long-term investment strategy," Chief Executive Nigel Newton said in a statement.

Alongside the success of the boy wizard Harry Potter, a hit with both adult and younger readers, the publisher reported healthy sales of 'The Blind Assassin', the Margaret Atwood novel that recently won the U.K.'s top literary award, the Booker Prize, which had also perked up sales of the same author's previous titles. It also cited a strong performance in its U.S. division.

Bloomsbury earned a first-half pretax profit of £273,000 pounds, compared with a loss of £103,000 a year earlier.

--from staff and wire reports

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