Hachette (Lagardere) Reports First Half Results

Lagardere is a €6.0billion company but the books division is big by our standards nevertheless. Their results have improved over the first quarter where there was some timing and softness in some markets. The US business continues to do well versus the prior period. Highlights from the press release:

• Lagardère Publishing (formerly the Books division) – The 2007 first-half revenue performance (€897m, up by 10.6% on a reported basis and by 1.7% on a like-for-like basis) was in line with our expectations. Like-for-like growth was driven by Hachette Book Group in the United States and by educational publishing in France.
• Recurring EBIT before associates up by 5.5% at €71m. The contributions from Education and Larousse in France, from Part-Works, and from Hachette Book Group in the United States (consolidated from April 2006) more than offset the drop in recurring EBIT from Literature in France and Orion in the United Kingdom.