Meyer decline hits sales at Lagardère

08.11.10
A sharp decline in sales of Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight saga has led to turnover at Hachette’s parent Lagardère Publishing to fall by 5% in the first nine months of 2010. Sales for the period were €1.61bn, down from €1.69bn in 2009. Lagardere said like for like sales fell 6.8% during the period.
Speaking in reference to the first 36 weeks of the year, Hachette UK c.e.o. Tim Hely Hutchinson said sales in the UK were ahead of budget but slightly behind last year because of a “plateauing” in sales of Stephenie Meyer titles. He said: “September was a relatively quiet month for HUK, with many of our biggest Christmas titles published in October but, as we predicted and despite continued challenging retail conditions, we are building up to an outstanding  finish to the year.”
Lagardère said falling demand for Meyer titles “had a marked impact” on revenue in the US, UK and France. It also cited late deliveries of textbooks in France, due to curriculum changes, and a tough Spanish education market as other reasons for falling sales.