Germany's Holtzbrinck group, whose trade publishing holdings include America's Farrar, Straus & Giroux, Henry Holt and St. Martin's Press, anticipates a "substantial" operating profit this year despite weakness in its press holdings, notably in the German domestic market, where advertising is in steep decline. Overall revenue for the year is estimated at 2.2 billion euros (about $2.2 billion).
The group's German trade imprints, which include Droemer Weltbild, S. Fischer and Rowohlt, have actually strengthened their market positions after a period of restructuring. They will receive a boost from the acquisition of a shareholding in audio book publisher Höverlag.
The plan is to focus on international publishing operations, and in line with this strategy Holtzbrinck is disposing of its German education and science division, which includes Das Bildungshaus, a group of school and science houses headquartered in Hanover, Munich's Urban & Fischer and Spektrum Akademischer Verlag in Heidelberg. Das Bildungshaus has been sold to the Westermann Group.
