Quarto narrows losses in first half

Improved revenues and profit margins helped illustrated books publisher Quarto narrow losses throughout the first half of its trading year.

Quarto turned in an "encouraging trading performance" on Monday, revealing that revenues had grown 12% ahead of the prior year to £56.2m. Along with the stronger revenues, improvements in the group's gross profit margin from 48.2% to 50.1% assisted Quarto in its quest to cut losses.

All in all, Quarto turned in a pre-tax loss for the six months leading to 30 June of £8.9m - a 3.26% decrease year-on-year.

Quarto also managed to cut its net debt by 3.43% to £73.2m and made significant progress with its banking syndicate to extend their facilities until August 2020.

The London-listed group felt it had seen a "solid trading performance in a challenging retail environment", pointing to its 9% uptick in US publishing lists revenue and its 17% growth in the UK, driven by a strong contribution from children's imprints.

Quarto's chief executive, CK Lau said: "This is an encouraging set of results. We have achieved good year-on-year growth and we are well placed to deliver a solid performance for the full year."

As of 1125 BST, Quarto shares had lost 4.98% to 97.40p.