Press Release: Lagardere Announces Third Quarter Results

Lagardère released its 2013 third quarter results today. Highlights of the company's performance are as follows:

At Hachette Book Group: US sales were up 11% in "a particularly dynamic" third quarter, notes Lagardère's press release. HBG had 191 print and 73 ebooks on the New York Times bestseller list thus far in 2013, with 45 #1 bestsellers to date, a 45% increase over the same period last year. The major releases driving HBG sales for the third quarter include THE CUCKOO'S CALLING by Robert Galbraith (J.K. Rowling's pseudonym), THE LONGEST RIDE by Nicholas Sparks, MISTRESS by James Patterson and David Ellis, DAVID AND GOLIATH by Malcolm Gladwell, and BREAK OUT! by Joel Osteen.

"The Fall 2013 list is one of HBG's strongest ever," said HBG CEO Michael Pietsch, "with major fourth quarter releases including Donna Tartt's THE GOLDFINCH, Scott Turow's IDENTICAL, Malala Yousafzai's I AM MALALA, David Baldacci's KING AND MAXWELL, Lemony Snicket's "WHEN DID YOU SEE HER LAST?," Michael Connelly's THE GODS OF GUILT, and James Patterson's CROSS MY HEART, the twentieth Alex Cross novel in twenty years."

At Hachette Livre: Hachette Livre (Lagardère Publishing) delivered net sales of €580 million in the third quarter, a 4.1% decrease over the same period in 2012. The UK's net sales decreased 3.9% due to a sharp downturn in business in Australia and New Zealand, as well as a negative comparison to the comparable quarter last year (with excellent sales for JK Rowling's THE CASUAL VACANCY).

For the first nine months of 2013, the publishing division had net sales of €1.497 billion, up .2% compared to the comparable period in 2012.According to Lagardère's release, for the period ending September 30,"General Literature's excellent performance (+23% in France and +9% in the United States) offset the expected slowdown in the Education business in France and Spain."