With sales of Stephenie Meyer titles slowing, revenue at Lagardere Publishing fell 6.5%, to 433 million euros ($551.5 million) in the first quarter ended March 31. The decline in the Twilight saga sales impacted not only results in the U.S. but in France and the U.K. as well, Lagardere said, noting that in last year’s first quarter sales had increased 14.1% over 2008. Excluding currency fluctuations, sales in the publishing group were down 5.9%. Similar to results at Simon & Schuster last week, Lagardere reported that sales of e-books soared 368 % in the quarter and accounted for 8% of revenue at its U.S. subsidiary, Hachette Book Group USA.
For the full year, Lagardere said the June 5 release of Meyer’s The Short Life of Bree Tanner should help sales in the second quarter and that the rapid growth of e-book sales, including those for the iPad, “could also have a very slightly positive effect on 2010 full-year recurring EBIT before associates.”
