Stieg Larsson's publisher hits record profits

The late Stieg Larsson (PA)

The success of Stieg Larsson's Millennium Trilogy drove UK publisher Quercus to record results in 2010, allowing the company to announce its maiden dividend.

Quercus, led by Mark Smith, lifted revenues from £19.1m in 2009 to £31.8m last year. Pre-tax profits surged from £900,000 to £7.5m over the same period.

The company said yesterday that it had seen year-on-year growth even without counting the sales of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series.

Quercus also launched Silver Oak last year, a joint venture in the US with a subsidiary of Barnes and Noble.

Yesterday, it announced Susan Watt had joined from HarperCollins to start a new fiction imprint, Heron Books.