Best-selling books boost St Ives profits

Magazine and book UK printing firm St Ives today said annual profits rose 14% after it weathered “extremely challenging” trading conditions.

The group benefited from its work on a number of best-selling book titles, including JK Rowling’s 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows' and 'A Thousand Splendid Suns' by Khaled Hosseini, both printed on behalf of Bloomsbury.

Sales from the books division grew by 18.8% in the year to August 3, which St Ives said reflected its “unrivalled ability” to deliver a fast and reliable service. St Ives owns Clay Books, based in Bungay in Suffolk, which has an estimated 25% share of the UK trade and general book market.

The group, which also operates at sites in Bradford, Bristol, Peterborough and Plymouth, said annual profits from continuing operations rose to £27.6m (€39.6m) from £24.2m (€34.7m) a year earlier.

It has faced a battle to protect profitability in recent years, reflecting the pressures on its markets caused by overcapacity and pricing.

Chief executive Brian Edwards said the majority of the company’s markets were influenced by the economic climate and consumer confidence.

Mr Edwards said: “We are pleased to have made overall progress in underlying performance despite trading conditions that remained extremely challenging through the year.”

He added: “The markets we serve are becoming more sophisticated. Targeted, short-run, personalised, cost effective, just-in-time and requirements for an extensive range of facilities are becoming the norm.”

Magazine printing faced a tougher time than books, with revenues down by almost 3% because of ongoing pricing pressures. St Ives said it continued to target those customers with a need for products requiring high quality and demanding service, as opposed to commodity volumes based on price.

The firm produces work for most of the UK’s leading magazine publishers including Conde Nast, Emap, IPC Media and The Economist.

St Ives also has a multi-media division, which provides CD and DVD booklets and inlays and a variety of specialist packaging to music, movie and computer games publishers, including Electronic Arts and Universal Music.

Whilst the business continued to secure new customers, price pressure remains and overall demand fell by more than 10% due in part to increased downloading of music from the internet.

The company’s exhibition and events company, Service Graphics, which was acquired last November, performed in line with expectations.