That is according to Maria Dickenson, General Manager of the expanding retail book chain, who said that “Irish fiction has been the success story of the year”.
“Colm Toibín’s Long Island [was] the standout title of 2024 prior to the arrival of Intermezzo, followed by Marian Keyes’ My Favourite Mistake.
“Intermezzo has sold exceptionally well in its first week and we expect it to be our biggest book of the year. New titles from Roddy Doyle, Donal Ryan, John Boyne, Graham Norton and the ongoing success of Claire Keegan are also driving sales.”
“The autumn schedule is very promising across the board. We expect Johnny Sexton’s Obsessed to be our bestselling non fiction title.”
Ms Dickenson made her comments as new accounts for Dubray Books Ltd show that pre-tax profits declined by 29pc to €828,000 as the book retail industry here was last year hit by “a relatively poor book title release calendar”.
New accounts show that revenues increased by 13.4pc from from €13.96m to €15.83m in the 12 months to the end of January 31 this year.
Dubray was acquired by Eason in 2020 and has been retained as a standalone business, with its own individual identity, within the Eason Group structure.
The directors state that the Dubray estate now comprises 15 stores, including the two Gutter Bookshop outlets “and the company continues to seek further expansion opportunities”.
Last year, Dubray opened further new stores in Waterford and Swords in north Dublin while it also relocated its previous temporary stores in Dundrum and Henry Street, Dublin “to appropriate long-term locations”.
Last September, Dubray acquired the trades of The Gutter Bookshop in both Temple Bar and Dalkey, Co. Dublin. Both stores have retained their Gutter identity given the strength of the indie Gutter brand.
The directors state that “these acquisitions reflect a continuation of the Company’s successful expansionary strategy of recent years”.
“This growth strategy continues to build on Dubray’s national brand ambitions, while also delivering incremental improvements in financial performance.”
On the company’s future developments, the directors state that having almost doubled the Dubray store estate to 15 outlets since 2020, “the company strategy remains to continue building on the national brand credentials of Dubray”.
Numbers employed increased from 87 to 99 as staff costs rose from €2.98m to €3.52m.
The directors state that they “are satisfied with the commercial performance of the company for the year”.
“In the face of economic and consumer sentiment challenges, the outcome affirms the resilience and ongoing consumer appeal of Dubray’s approach to the book business.”
They describe the retail environment in which the company operates continues as “very competitive, dynamic and challenging”.
They state that “the weakening of the Euro vs Sterling exchange rate had an additional inflationary impact on book retail prices, just at the time when consumers were most sensitive to such changes”.
They state that while there was a small decline of €200,000 in operating profit to €900,000, at an Earnings Before Interest Tax Depreciation and Amortisation (EBITDA), cash generating profitability level, the total was in line with the prior year at €1.3m.
