Bloomsbury's Wisden innings off to a flyer

Wisden is proving a winner for Bloomsbury Publishing.

The first edition of the cricketers' almanack put out by the firm is "selling ahead of expectations" according to chief executive Nigel Newton.

Bloomsbury bought Wisden from Mark Getty at the end of last year for an undisclosed sum.

Newton said all last year's acquisitions, including the Arden Shakespeare series and academic publisher Berg, were now integrated into Bloomsbury and were benefiting from operating within the larger group.

He also said that with £47 million of cash in the bank at the end of March the group sees "an increasing number of company acquisition opportunities".

The first four months of the year had seen the specialist publishing division perform well while the trade division is looking forward to a strong second half with new books from John Irving, Margaret Attwood, William Boyd, Heston Blumenthal and Ben Schott being published in the autumn.