Hachette Owner Lagardère Says UK and US Publishing Each Grew 4% in Q3

How is Hachette's parent doing? Lagardère, the French group that owns Hachette Livre, says its publishing division grew 0.9% like for like in the third quarter of 2026, with revenue of €836 million. Growth came from outside France: revenue rose 4% in both the UK and the US, while France fell 4%. Lagardère published the figures on Thursday, October 15, 2026, after the Paris market closed.

On a reported basis, Lagardère Publishing revenue was up 3.1%, helped by currency moves and the acquisition of business publisher Kogan Page. For the first nine months of the year, the division brought in €2,179 million, up 1.1% like for like.

Arnaud Lagardère, the group's chairman and CEO, said publishing growth was "lifted in particular by very strong performances in English- and Spanish-language General Literature."

United States: up 4%, audio still climbing

Lagardère said US growth "reflects the strength of the business," driven by a run of successful titles and a strong performance from its partner publisher distribution network. "Rising audiobook sales continued to support growth," the company added.

Titles it named include Caroline Chambers' What to Cook When You Don't Feel Like Cooking, Manuel Garand's Murdoku: 80 Murder Mystery Logic Puzzles, Rachel Gillig's The Knave and the Moon, and two James Patterson collaborations: Delusional with James O. Born and The Country Road Murders with Mike Lupica.

United Kingdom: up 4% on a busy frontlist

Hachette UK's growth came from what Lagardère called "a particularly dynamic frontlist publishing schedule." Quarter bestsellers included Rebecca Yarros' new novel Threshing Day and the sixth volume of Alice Oseman's Heartstopper.

The company also pointed to Elle Kennedy's Off Campus series, Sylvester Stallone's autobiography The Steps, Michael Connelly's The Hollow, and continued strong sales of Freida McFadden's The Housemaid series, Florence Knapp's The Names, Alison Espach's The Wedding People and Maggie O'Farrell's Land and Hamnet.

France: down 4% after a strong 2025

French revenue fell 4% year on year, against a third quarter of 2025 that had risen 10%. Lagardère blamed weaker sales of travel guides and comics and manga. Lifestyle got a lift from Yotam Ottolenghi's Simple Too, and General Literature started the autumn well with Thélyson Orélien's C'était ça ou mourir and Sarah Knafo's Le Casse du siècle. Le Livre de Poche stayed strong on Valérie Perrin, Virginie Grimaldi and Guillaume Musso.

Everywhere else

• Spain and Latin America: up 3%, helped by a strong textbook campaign in Spain and growing paperback sales in trade after a dedicated imprint launched in 2025.
• Partworks: up 1%, on collections launched in Italy and Japan.
• Board games: down 4%, after an 18% jump a year earlier.

Group-wide, Lagardère's third-quarter revenue was €2,633 million, up 2.4% like for like. Its travel retail arm posted record summer revenue.

Leadership note

The release also restates that Hachette Livre announced on September 29 that David Shelley will become Global Advisor to Hachette Livre's executive management from January 1, 2027. Lagardère says his role will include guiding new markets and global digital offerings, expanding international synergies, and overseeing mergers and acquisitions. Full-year results are due on February 25, 2027.

Why it matters for authors

English-language commercial fiction is carrying the numbers. Romantasy, thrillers and big-name crime drove the UK and US results. That tells you where one of the Big Five is putting its marketing muscle.

Audio keeps showing up in earnings. Lagardère again singled out rising audiobook sales as a US growth driver. For authors negotiating with any large publisher, audio rights remain valuable, and it is worth knowing who will actually produce and market the audio edition.

France is softer, and genre matters there. Weak travel guides and manga dragged the home market while literary fiction held up. Rights sellers and translators working into French should note the category split. For more on the group, see PT's Hachette coverage.

Sources

• Lagardère: Third-quarter 2026 revenue press release (PDF) (October 15, 2026)
• Lagardère: Results and presentations