The Bookseller's Alison Flood reports that Little, Brown Book Group has acquired independent publisher Piatkus Books. Founder Judy Piatkus will continue as m.d. until the end of the year, when she will retire from publishing. Piatkus, which has a turnover of around £10m, will become an independent imprint within Little, Brown. It will continue trading at its current premises until the end of October, after which the team will move to Little, Brown's new offices at 100 Victoria Embankment.

Little, Brown said it would ask "the majority of the directors and staff" to stay with the business. It added that while a small number of staff may not have continuing roles within Piatkus, they would wherever possible be offered jobs within Little, Brown or the wider Hachette Livre UK group to keep job losses "to an absolute minimum". The news may quell some rumors of Little, Brown's eventual demise as an independent imprint within the Hachette rubric, but then again, let's talk again in six months, shall we?