James Moore: A sensible read about the future of publishing

Outlook Among the nether regions of the stock market lies the occasional gem.

Quarto might be one of them. The book publisher's chairman and chief executive, Laurence Orbach, yesterday produced a lengthy meditation on the publishing industry and books in general.

He's cautious about investing too much in digital, Quarto having got its fingers burnt once by spending a packet on CD Roms the public didn't actually want.

But the company is doing rather well because, despite everything, there is a certain segment of people that rather likes books.

So Quarto will stick to what its good at for now, although he plans to step aside to let someone younger take over quite soon.

Perhaps all that time spent dealing with literature has rubbed off on him – his musings are a shade more readable (and interesting) than most results statements. They makes a shade more sense too.