Waterstones has finally turned a profit again after years of losses
Waterstones has turned an annual profit for the first time since 2009 as book sales picked up in 2016.
The figures
The bookseller reported a pre-tax profit before exceptional items of £11.9m, which was up from a loss of £3.4m in the previous year.
Sales rose 4.3 per cent to £409.1m for the year ended 30 April, up from £392.4m.
Read more: Is Waterstones about to buy Tesco's Blinkbox Books?
Waterstones closed six shops and opened seven, resulting in total estate of 270 shops at the end of April. Now, 46 of the bookseller's shops are fitted with its Cafe W chain of eateries.
Why it's interesting
In 2011, Waterstones was bought from HMV by the Alexander Mamut, a Russian billionaire, for £53m. He has pushed on a drive to "secure its future as a quality bookselling business" by investing about £100m on turning around the struggling business.
Significant progress was made this year as the bookseller's shops improved service and stocked a larger variety of book – and it helped that ebook sales have slowed.
What Waterstones said
James Daunt, chief executive of Waterstones, told the Telegraph the business is repositioning itself as a more traditional bookseller. Daunt said a rise in children's books sales, teen books (with the added benefit of a new Harry Potter instalment), "heavyweight" fiction and non-book items have all helped sales significantly.