PEARSON said it hoped new titles by Jamie Oliver, Eoin Colfer and Nick Hornby will help its book publishing division beat the recession.

May 2 2009 Huddersfield Daily Examiner

The group, which owns Penguin and the Financial Times Group, reported an encouraging start to the year, with revenues up by 26% to £1bn.

Demand for new fiction and non-fiction was “generally good” at Penguin, with “very strong” growth also made in digital formats. But the group said illustrated reference and travel books had suffered.

Penguin was expected to produce a good “competitive” performance this year.

At the FT Group, Pearson said content subscription and digital revenues had grown well in the first three months of 2009, despite “very tough” conditions in financial markets.