If there's any doubt that Lagardere - the parent company of media conglomerate Hachette Livre - made the right move in buying the properties of the company formerly known as the Time Warner Book Group, then it should dissolve in the face of hard data. Specifically, that acquiring TWBG (now Hachette Book Group in the US and Little, Brown Book Group in the UK) helped sales at Hachette Livre grow by 13.6% in the first half of its financial year, according to results filed by Lagardere.

The group said the "good quarter", was thanks largely to fine performances from the United Kingdom, Distribution, Education and Part-works, and a better performance from Literature in France. There was also "very strong" growth for Hodder Headline in the UK. The Bookseller added that sales rose from 719.7 to 817.4m pounds, with TWBG contributing 98m pounds to the top line in the second quarter alone. The second quarter also saw a strong contribution from Hodder Headline with revenue growth of more than 10%.

In short, a lot of good news on the financial front - though it remains to be seen how this will carry over on publishing fronts...