: Penguin Group :

: profile :

At a time when books are often the beginning of a story that gets told across all media in all parts of the world, Penguin has a great future. We are one of the premier English language publishers in the world. We publish an extensive range of titles: the very best new fiction and non-fiction, literary prize winners and commercial blockbusters, and on subjects ranging from history and science to essential reference. We are the pre-eminent classics publisher and own some of the most highly prized and enduring brands in children’s publishing. We rank in the top three in all major English speaking markets – the US, UK, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and India. As well as publishing under the Penguin name, our imprints include (in the US) Avery, Berkley Books, Dutton, Plume, Putnam, Riverhead and Viking; and (in the UK) Allen Lane, Frederick Warne, Hamish Hamilton, Ladybird, Michael Joseph, Puffin and Viking.

We are building the online potential of Penguin (www.penguin.co.uk, www.penguinputnam.com) and our major imprints and titles. For example, we are forming internet alliances and building big and devoted online communities (such as www.penguinclassics.com and www.roughguides.com) and we are extending rapidly our range of author websites (such as www.alexgarland.com).

: performance :

In 1999, Penguin’s underlying sales increased by 5% with underlying profits up by 23%. Our success was built on the back of increased investment in new and established bestselling authors, a concerted campaign to maximise the value of our ever popular backlist titles and sustained efforts to put the supply side of our business on a stronger commercial footing.

We invested more in building a stronger, more vibrant frontlist, working globally to extend our stable of bestselling writers. For example, we now have worldwide rights to publish authors such as Tom Clancy, Clive Cussler, Dick Francis, Alex Garland and Nick Hornby. We used our commissioning expertise and publishing skills to bring the talents of a new generation of writers to the widest possible audience. These investments paid off. Titles published by Penguin Putnam (as we are known in the US) spent a record 262 weeks on The New York Times bestseller lists. In the UK, we nearly doubled our share of The Guardian Top 100 Bestsellers of 1999 and Penguin Australia retained its claim to be the nation’s leading publisher.

In the UK, we invested in the Penguin brand, with a highly successful marketing campaign. In the US, the acquisition of Avery Publishing allowed us to move into a market-leading position in the burgeoning healthcare and nutrition market, which has strong online potential. We continued to improve the economics of our business, with steps taken in 1998 to rationalise our US warehousing and distribution systems and consolidate our UK children’s division helping to improve margins in 1999.

We expanded the online and cross media potential of our titles, stories and imprints throughout the world. We capitalised on the potential of television and movie tie-ins and worked more closely with Pearson Television to move ahead on the animation of our children’s books as well as jointly commissioning adult non-fiction projects. Internet sales worldwide doubled last year and now account for over 5% of total sales in the US and we were the first major publisher to publish a new title in electronic format ahead of its hard copy launch.

By embracing the opportunities of the internet and exploring new print technologies, we will ensure Penguin continues to live up to its reputation as one of the most innovative consumer publishers around. We also aim to build a bigger, better and more profitable consumer publishing business – and we are well on the way to achieving that goal.