Hachette Book Group’s first quarter revenues were down 10.3 percent in Q1 2016 as compared to the same period last year.
“Although HBG’s gross sales are down this quarter, due to a publishing schedule lighter than usual on major hardcover titles, our profits in Q1 are up on last year, helped by lower unearned advances and continued strong sales of HBG’s downloadable audio,” stated HBG’s CEO Michael Pietsch. “With the acquisition of Perseus Books now complete, we’ve been focused on bringing our new colleagues on board and integrating Perseus’s excellent books and authors into Hachette.”
Hachette Livre’s revenues were approximately $469 million, down 1.4 percent on a consolidated basis. In Q1 2016, digital accounted for 10.4 percent of the publishing division’s total sales as compared to 12.2 percent in Q1 2015. E-books represent 26 percent of net trade sales in the U.S., down from 28 percent in Q1 2015.