Potter boom is here to stay

BLOOMSBURY, JK Rowling's publisher, promised the City today that Harry Potter will conjure up massive revenues for the group for years to come.

Confirming that Rowling will deliver two more Harry Potter books and that there will be more films to follow the two Hollywood blockbusters already released, Bloomsbury indicated that the latest book, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, had helped increase sales of the previous four books in the series.

Bloomsbury chairman Nigel Newton said: 'The level of interest in the series is unprecedented and underlines that it will provide significant revenues for the group for many years to come.'

It reported underlying pre-tax profits up 13% to £3.5m on sales up 18% to £29m in the six months to the end of June. That took in only 10 days' sales of the latest Potter phenomenon.

The Order of the Phoenix sold a staggering 1.77m copies on its first day, almost five times as many as the first-day sales of Rowling's fourth book, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, released in July 2000, and it has been at the top of the bestsellers' lists since.

Accounting for stock splits, the shares opened at a record high of 265p, having doubled in the past 12 months and increased eightfold over the past five years. Two months ago Bloomsbury directors took advantage of the latest boom in the shares, cashing in £1m worth of options, priced at as low as 20p.