Wednesday 01 February 2017 6:36 pm

Waterstones has finally turned a profit again after years of losses

Waterstones has turned an annual profit for the first time since 2009 as book sales picked up in 2016.

The figures

The bookseller reported a pre-tax profit before exceptional items of £11.9m, which was up from a loss of £3.4m in the previous year.

Sales rose 4.3 per cent to £409.1m for the year ended 30 April, up from £392.4m.

Waterstones closed six shops and opened seven, resulting in total estate of 270 shops at the end of April. Now, 46 of the bookseller's shops are fitted with its Cafe W chain of eateries.

Why it's interesting

In 2011, Waterstones was bought from HMV by the Alexander Mamut, a Russian billionaire, for £53m. He has pushed on a drive to "secure its future as a quality bookselling business" by investing about £100m on turning around the struggling business.

Significant progress was made this year as the bookseller's shops improved service and stocked a larger variety of book – and it helped that ebook sales have slowed.

What Waterstones said

James Daunt, chief executive of Waterstones, told the Telegraph the business is repositioning itself as a more traditional bookseller. Daunt said a rise in children's books sales, teen books (with the added benefit of a new Harry Potter instalment), "heavyweight" fiction and non-book items have all helped sales significantly.