Hachette magazine subsidiary boosts parent firm's revenue

The worldwide magazine empire of Hachette Filippachi is making almost all the difference for Lagardère Active and Lagardère SCA, which owns it, according to a story in MediaDaily News. Revenues were up 3.3% over all compared to 2006. mostly due to improved performance at its magazine properties and online acquisitions in 2007, including Jumpstart, an auto ad network.

Hachette is owned by Lagardère Active and is the company that franchised one of its standout titles, fashion giant Elle, to Transcontinental Media, which publishes both Elle Quebec and Elle Canada. It also publishes such well-known U.S. titles as Car and Driver, Road and Track, Metropolitan Home and Woman's Day. Lagardere also owns Curtis Circulation Company, one of the largest distributors of magazines, with retail sales of $1.7 billion a year.

The Paris-based Lagardère SCA had roughly $13.3 billion in revenues according to current exchange rates.

Magazine sales, including U.S. and overseas titles, rose 1.3% to $2.7 billion, despite costs associated with the closure of some unprofitable magazines. (Hachette shuttered Premiere in March 2007 in the U.S.) The company's core magazine business performed well, especially women's and celebrity titles.

According to a separate report from TNS Media Intelligence, Hachette's total ad pages slipped slightly in 2007--down 3.7% to 14,146. Hachette is just one of many magazine businesses owned by Lagardere.