Bloomsbury optimistic about life after Harry

Book publisher Bloomsbury said today it was confident it had a strong pipeline of new titles to boost trading in the post Harry Potter era.

The final instalment in the adventures of the child wizard saw 2.65 million copies sold in UK bookshops on the first day of release in July. The contribution from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows meant Bloomsbury’s pre-tax profits jumped to £17.9m (€22.7m) in 2007 from £5.2m (€6.7m) a year earlier.