Afghan-American novelist, Oxford grad boost Bloomsbury profit

By Shadi Bushra

LONDON, Oct (KOSDAQ: 039200.KQ - news) 24 (Reuters) - Bloomsbury Publishing (LSE: BMY.L - news) , the British company that brought the Harry Potter series to print, reported a rise in first-half pretax profits, helped by an Afghan-American novelist and a 21-year-old Oxford graduate.

Chief Executive Nigel Newton said the firm was traditionally more successful in the second half, due to academic sales in autumn and holiday sales in winter, but a number of popular novels in the first half had pushed profits higher than it had expected.

They included "And the Mountains Echoed" by Khaled Hosseini, whose first two novels, "The Kite Runner" and "A Thousand Splendid Suns", illustrated Afghanistan's tumultuous history through a multi-generational cast of characters.

Another title that boosted earnings was "The Bone Season", the first in a seven-part series about a dystopian Britain where Oxford is home to a penal colony. Author Samantha Shannon graduated from Oxford University this year.

Bloomsbury's first-half pretax profit rose about 22 percent to 1.1 million pounds ($1.78 million). Print sales rose 13 percent to 39.6 million pounds, while digital sales increased 22 percent to 5.8 million pounds.