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Quarto Group Inc on Tuesday reported a surge in its interim profit as book trade market recovered, but cautioned against a ‘challenging’ second half of the year due to the cost-of-living crisis impacting its sales.
Shares were down 4.2% at 148.50 pence each on Tuesday morning in London.
For the six months that ended on June 30, the London-based illustrated book publisher said revenue grew by 8.8% to $61.9 million from $56.9 million a year earlier, as a result of ‘strong business to business sales’, it explained.
Pretax profit more than doubled to £6.6 million from £3.0 million, as operating profit surged to £7.2 million from £4.0 million a year earlier, driven by the ‘continued cost reduction programme implemented in 2018,’ Quarto noted.
‘The book trade market in the first six months of 2022 proved to be resilient, continuing the recovery seen in 2021,’ the company said.
Chief Executive Alison Goff said: ‘This is an encouraging set of results following on from the growth in 2021. Revenue has continued to grow delivering a higher than expected operating profit, in what is seasonally, our weakest half of the year.’
Net debt amounted to £5.6 million as at June 30, down from £16.4 million on December 31.
Looking ahead, Quarto however warned that trading in the second half of the year will be ‘particularly challenging’, and a ‘critical time’ for the firm.
It said it expects to see a ‘turbulent’ second half of the year, with the cost-of-living crisis impacting both the US and UK trade sales. Further, it cited consumers returning to purchase books in traditional book stores over buying them online, following the easing of pandemic-related restrictions.
However, the company said it remains focused on keeping costs under control, driving sales, while ‘maintaining the debt reduction and developing further growth strategies for the remainder of 2022 and beyond’.
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