Saga Egmont supports Lindhardt & Ringhof’s record-breaking profit
Saga Egmont’s and Lindhardt & Ringhof’s authors have never before reached as many readers both in Denmark and on the world stage as they do now.
Saga Egmont’s parent-company Lindhardt & Ringhof shows vast growth in revenue and a record-setting profit before tax of DKK 33 million in 2020 – a huge feat considering the focus on digital investments and the addition of 40 new employees.
“This is some of the most fun I’ve had in my publishing career,” says Lars Boesgaard, CEO. “We publish thousands of e-books and audiobooks in Spain, Mexico, Germany, the UK, France, Italy, and many other countries. By embracing the digital publishing opportunities of today, any publisher can reach millions and millions of readers far across country borders. And this we have done in 2020 adding positively to our total turnover and profit.”
The publishing house delivered revenue of DKK 473 million in 2020, and profit before tax of DKK 33 million. Of the DKK 77 million revenue growth, only DKK 22 million came from acquisitions.
Denmark as a proven case
Lindhardt & Ringhof’s digital publisher Saga Egmont has done especially well and now publishes approximately every other audiobook and every third e-book in Denmark.
“Our goal is to catch up. In many – if not most – countries publishers haven’t digitized their books. There is only a limited number of titles available – that’s not good for readers, authors nor publishers. Our promise to authors and translators is that all of their books will be available in digital formats, generating new revenue. Everything else would be odd, given we’re in 2021,” says Lasse Korsemann Horne, Publishing Director of Saga Egmont.
It is worth noting that the Saga Egmont catalogue has a global reach and includes 80,000 e- and audiobooks across more than 30 languages. Saga Egmont expects to further expand its catalogue by 25,000 publications in 2021.
”Although Covid-19 affected the year negatively in a lot of ways, book sales have continued to grow. The book has truly manifested itself as a strong and lasting medium. It’s also incredibly positive that sales of physical books have grown by 10% compared to 2019 in Denmark. It’s becoming more and more clear that readers want both digital books as well as the ‘old fashioned’ paper book, which maybe isn’t that old fashioned after all,” comments Lars Boesgaard, CEO.
Yes, We Can!
Lindhart & Ringhof is home to 2020’s number one bestseller in Denmark – the Danish translation of Barack Obama’s memoir A Promised Land – and a large number of their Danish and Nordic writers also topped the bestseller lists. Books by Leif Davidsen, Michael Katz Krefeld, Anne Mette Hancock, Steffen Jacobsen, Sebastian Klein, Claus Meyer, and Karl Ove Knausgård all had impressive sales in 2020.
With the history and experience of one of the top publishing houses in Scandinavia, Saga Egmont already dominates the Danish, Swedish, and German digital publishing landscapes and is well-positioned to drive growth in further markets too. From 2021 Saga Egmont has expanded the business to the UK, publishing audiobooks in collaboration with innovative British digital publishing houses such as Hera Books and Canelo. “We continue to have conversations with new partners in the UK and look forward to bringing a fresh perspective to the digital book market in the English language markets worldwide”, says Nikoline Nordfred Eriksen, Programme Manager at Saga Egmont.
”We have ambitious plans and expect to continue our impressive growth in 2021, hiring 30-40 new colleagues to help expand our business. We are thrilled to be publishing bestselling author Jeffrey Archer in 2021 including The Fourth Estate, The Eleventh Commandment, and Sons of Fortune in wonderful new recordings by Jonathan Aris and Michael Brandon.” says Lars Boesgaard, CEO
Lasse Korsemann Horne comments “For many years there has been this notion that British readers don’t fancy translated literature. We believe a great story is a great story. We’ve seen across many markets now that digital readers are curious by nature. Therefore, I am especially proud to announce that we’ve initiated a translation program of our Nordic writers. During 2021 we will debut bestselling true crime writer Kristian Corfixen with The Nurse, Sarah Engell’s intense thriller The Chinese Twin, and Karl Eidem’s The Children’s Hospital to name just a few.”
About Saga Egmont
Saga Egmont is a publishing house under the parent company Lindhart & Ringhof – the second-largest publishing house in Denmark and digital market leaders. Saga has been present in Denmark for many years, and since 2014 has been rapidly expanding internationally. Saga Egmont publishers over 25.000 titles yearly; split between a versatile fiction and non-fiction catalogue across 30 languages.
Lindhardt & Ringhof includes multiple other subsidiary publishers i.e. Carlsen, Alinia, Akademisk Forlag, and Saga Egmont, as well as part-owning several other publishing-related businesses. Lindhardt og Ringhof’s share of their profit reached approx. DKK 100 million, which has not been included in the 2020 results.
For more information about our titles, or our full English catalogue contact Nadia on – nadia.lamond@sagaegmont.com or simply book a meeting.