Bloomsbury is hoping that new titles from established authors such as John Irving, Margaret Atwood and William Boyd as well as fresh cookbooks from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and Heston Blumenthal will help the publisher weather the economic storm this year.

The company can no longer rely upon the biggest name on its roster - Harry Potter - to bail it out if the recession deepens, as the final instalment of the boy wizard's adventures was published in 2007.

Announcing slightly better than expected annual profits, Bloomsbury chief executive Nigel Newton said: "There are always some special interest books that emerge in any given era, I think thrifty cookbooks are doing well at the moment." "People are being cautious and we are not immune [from the recession] by any means," he added. "But reading books is great value for money at an average price of 50p an hour."

But the absence of Potter was obvious in Bloomsbury's results yesterday. Revenue for the year to end December of £99.95m was down from £150m in 2007, while pretax profits of £11.63m were down from £17.86m. To plug the gap, Bloomsbury has been using the £52m it has in the bank thanks to the JK Rowlingphenomenon, to build a specialist publishing arm. It has bought John Wisden & Co, publishers of the eponymous cricket almanac, and The Arden Shakespeare. Newton said the company would continue to look for deals.