2021 was a remarkable year for the publishing houses within Storytel Books, with a 20% year-to-year revenue growth, from 657 MSEK (2020) to 789 MSEK (2021). Storytel Books is the home for all publishing houses owned by Storytel Group: Norstedts Förlagsgrupp (SE), Lind & Co (SE), Gummerus (FI), Aula (FI) and People’s (DK).
In Sweden, Norstedts Förlagsgrupp AB reached a historical milestone with an EBIT of 11 % (10 %). The main explanations for these outstanding results are numerous bestselling titles combined with an attractive backlist catalog and a large share of digital sales. In the fiction genre, digital formats added up to more than 50% of total sales.
In Finland, total book sales – from publishing houses to retailers – increased by 10%, due mainly to growth in digital sales. Print sales at our Finnish publishing houses, Gummerus and Aula & Co, also overperformed, due to several bestsellers during the year.
In Denmark, the market experienced tough competition with several new publishing houses entering the market. At the same time, the market struggled with periods of total lockdown of physical bookstores due to the coronavirus pandemic. Despite these challenges, the Danish publisher People´s strengthened its position in the Danish publishing market with both increased revenue, to 74,5 (69,2 MDKR), and improved EBIT, to 4,7 MDKR (3,8 mkr dkr).
During 2021, Storytel Books publishing houses have shown revenue growth with several bestselling titles and leading authorships. Combined with increased digital sales and overall cost control, this has set the stage for a positive development for all publishers.
EBIT improved to 120 MSEK, a 139 % increase. The operating margin grew to 15.3% (7.7%).
“The publishers within Storytel Books have outperformed an overall strong book market. In times of disruptive changes in the book industry in general, with book sales moving from physical stores to online bookstores and sales of physical formats moving toward digital formats, this strong profitability gives us in the Storytel publishing houses a great foundation for being able to continue to develop new stories together with our authors,” says Linda Säresand, CEO of Storytel Books.
Storytel Books is in an expansive growth phase, and during its second year, two new publishing houses were acquired by the Group, Lind & Co (SE) and Aula & Co (FI).
Storytel Books AB is the home for all publishing houses owned by the Storytel Group. It publishes both printed books and audiobooks. Storytel Book publishers have published books since 1823, and together with Storytel streaming, they have gained a unique competence with their long legacy of book publishing and their expertise in new technology. The streaming business within the Storytel Group is conducted under the brands Storytel, Mofibo and Audiobooks.com. The imprint Storyside publishes stories for audio.