The book publisher Bloomsbury has hit record profits in the first half of the year thanks in part to a boom in fantasy fiction driven by the American author Sarah J Maas, the British novelist Samantha Shannon and the continuing popularity of Harry Potter.
The London-based publishing house said profits rose 11% to £17.7m in the six months to August, compared with a year earlier, prompting the company to announce it would more than double its half-year payout for shareholders.
