Publishing performance in line

Quarto’s year-end update indicates that the publishing operations have delivered the performance as expected, despite challenges in the UK retail market and the tailing off of the colouring book trend. 2016’s acquisitions have done notably well and our forecasts are unchanged. A buyer has been found for Australian/New Zealand distributor, Books and Gifts Direct (BGD), which will allow greater focus on opportunities for the core publishing business. Net debt of $62.2m was ahead of end FY15 due to working capital timing and weaker trading at BGD. Quarto has an attractive yield and continues to trade at an overlarge discount to peers.