Bloomsbury, the publishing group, reported a 40 per cent jump in pre-tax profits in the first half of the year after strong performance of its adult and specialist divisions, and strong sales of bestsellers such as The Kite Runner.

Pre-tax profits rose to £5.3 million, up from £3.8 million in the first half of last year, although gross profits fell from £21.8 million to 19.4 million. Bloomsbury's revenue also fell by £10 million to £42.1 million in the first six months of the year.

The group was faced with a dilemma after JK Rowling, their most profitable author, published the final book in the Harry Potter series last year. The July release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows helped the book publisher to double its revenues to £150.2 million for the year ending in December.

But it was granted a slight reprieve earlier this year when Ms Rowling announced that she would be publishing The Tales of Beedle the Bard, a book integral to the storyline of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in December.

But Bloomsbury said it has a strong line-up of books for the rest of the year, including The Snowball, a biography of Warren Buffet by Alice Schroeder. There will also be a follow up to their Don'ts for husbands and Don'ts for wives series called Don'ts for Dancers, taking advantage of the return of Strictly Come Dancing to television screens.

The group also said it had completed transferring its titles online, which would make the books more easily available as 'Print on Demand'. Nigel Newton, Chief Executive of Bloomsbury, said: "We are now seeing the benefits of our focused strategy, which is positioning us well for the rest of the financial year and the longer term."

Mr Newton is responsible for the specialist publishing division of the publisher which last year agreed a partnership with the Qatar Financial Centre Authority to launch Qfinance, an online and print resource for financial professionals.

The group said that the online publication of Who's Who, in conjunction with Oxford University Press would bring in a steady revenue stream and announced that it would expand its academic publishing.

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