Romanian book publishing companies Litera, Polirom, Curtea Veche, Humanitas and Paralela 45 control most of the book publishing market in Romania based on their 2010 revenues, according to data from the Finance Ministry. The five book publishers together made revenues of EUR 24.9 million, while their cumulative profits reached EUR 1.1 million last year. Around half of this profit was reported by Paralela 45.

Litera book publishing company had a turnover of EUR 10 million last year, while its profit stood at EUR 101,000. Most of its revenues last year came from book publishing projects started together with newspapers and magazines.

Editura Polirom group, which includes Polirom and Cartea Romaneasca posted a turnover of EUR 4.3 million, with a profit of EUR 220,000. Another book publishing company, Curtea Veche Publishing made EUR 4 million in turnover and reported a profit of EUR 31,000 last year.

Humanitas's revenues were of EUR 3.8 million, while its profit stood at EUR 279,000, thtough three companies, according to Mediafax. Paralela 45 book publishing company posted profits of more than EUR 0.5 million, while its turnover stood at EUR 2.8 million, one of the highest profit margins in the field.

These results came on a downwards book market. For 2010, this market was estimated at around EUR 112 million, down 15 percent on 2009, according to the Diverta bookshops. Without the kiosk sales, the book sales were of EUR 60 million, according to previous information from Diverta.

editor@romania-insider.com

(photo source: Photoxpress.com)