Harry Potter and music fuel sales growth at Bloomsbury Publishing

Harry Potter may still be working his magic for Bloomsbury, but sales at the publishing giant are also rising thanks to Bruce Springsteen and its new music division, it emerged on Tuesday.

The publisher noted that Bloomsbury Popular Music, an online music library which was launched this year and features artists such as The Boss, is proving popular with students.

That helped sales of digital resources in its non-consumer division jump 16% in the three months to May 31.

Total revenues surged 19%, with top-selling titles including Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman.

The firm continued to see strong demand for Harry Potter books, two decades after the first was published.

To mark the 20th anniversary, Bloomsbury will publish two new books on the boy wizard in October in conjunction with a British Library exhibition.

It added full-year profits should be in line with expectations. The shares rose 2.19p to 174.54p following the update.

Investec analyst Steven Liechti said: “Strong first-quarter trading and momentum, albeit in a seasonally small quarter, is encouraging.”