Harry Potter publisher Bloomsbury Publishing said today it expected to beat last year's first-half turnover and operating profit by a substantial margin, boosting its shares by 8 per cent.
Britain-based Bloomsbury also said its US operation was rapidly becoming a significant revenue generator and that it would form a US children's publishing operation, building on the success of its British children's books division.
Shares in the group added 60 pence or 7.7 per cent to 842p in early London trade, its highest for six months. The stock is outperforming the FTSE media index by 26 per cent in 2001.
The Harry Potter books by JK Rowling have proved a huge hit with children and even some adults, breaking many publishing records by selling more than 100 million copies.
A Hollywood film about the bespectacled boy wizard will hit screens in November. Bloomsbury has launched a range of Harry Potter merchandise, including diaries, address books and personal organisers.
Chairman Mr Nigel Newton was due to tell shareholders at the group's annual general meeting later today that the company continued to show strong growth.
Mr Newton said chef-author Anthony Bourdain's Kitchen Confidentialhad sold well in Britain and the United States, and that John Irving's new novel, The Fourth Hand,would probably be one of the summer's most-read books among holidaymakers.
Last year, Bloomsbury made $16 million in first-half sales, on its way to a full-year pre-tax profit of $5.8 million and a 143 per cent jump in turnover to $50.7 million.