{
  "id": 16044848,
  "title": "Bloomsbury ‘confident’ of Harry Potter boost despite share slide",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/22/bloomsbury-confident-of-harry-potter-boost-despite-share-slide",
  "topic": "business",
  "section": "Business",
  "published": "2026-10-22T11:59:10.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "City AM",
    "slug": "city-am",
    "url": "https://www.cityam.com/bloomsbury-confident-of-harry-potter-boost-despite-share-slide/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Bloomsbury publishing house remains optimistic about a record-breaking year, despite a decline in first-half sales that prompted a share price drop. Publisher Nigel Newton stated that upcoming releases, including Harry Potter and books by best-selling author Sarah J. Maas, will generate significant profits in the second half of the year. The company currently anticipates meeting market expectations, with projected profits of £49.9 million and revenue of £354 million. Newton emphasized that the timing of major releases determines whether profits are made in the first or second half of the year, which is not indicative of the company's overall health. The publisher has already secured a new Harry Potter tie-in edition of \"Philosopher's Stone\" from several major supermarkets, and Newton believes the Christmas release of HBO's TV adaptation will be a \"masterstroke.\" Bloomsbury is also introducing new novels by Maas in October and January. The founder and executive chairman plans to step down gradually, appointing a new CEO and becoming a non-executive chairman in three years.",
  "summary": "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 [...]",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}