Bloomsbury ‘confident’ of Harry Potter boost despite share slide

Bloomsbury is “confident” that a new Harry Potter TV show will spur the publishing house to record profit, after a slip in first-half sales spooked investors. The FTSE 250 group slipped as much as eight per cent on Thursday morning to 616p after it posted a five per cent dip in revenue to £152m and halved its pre-tax profit from £18m to £9m.  Nigel Newton, the publisher’s founder and executive chairman, told City AM the firm’s first-half numbers are “entirely immaterial” to its overall health, pointing to upcoming releases from fantasy big-hitter Sarah J. Maas and an expected surge in Harry Potter sales. The book publisher said it will make most of its profit in the second half and is on track to meet market expectations, which have pitched adjusted profit at a record £49.9m and revenue at £354m. Bloomsbury’s first-half drop in sales “isn’t the story,” Newton said. “Precisely when you schedule your big bestsellers and other releases determines whether that money goes in th