By Brittany Hazelwood

Lagardère group announced its full-year 2011 net sales this past Tuesday, February 7th. The media conglomerate reports net sales at €7,657 million down 3.9%. However, according to the report the “group demonstrated its resilience in 2011 despite a difficult economic environment,” and highlighted e-books as a growth area.

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For the publishing arm, worldwide sales dipped 5.9%, with numbers dropping 7.7% and 4.5% in France and England, respectively. However, for the United States “activity grew strongly” with an overall growth of 12.8%. The report pointed to new bestsellers The Best of Me by Nicolas Sparks and Seriously…I’m Kidding by Ellen DeGeneres.

E-book sales, mainly in English-speaking countries, helped boost Lagardère’s financials at the end of the fourth quarter. In the United States e-books accounted for 20% of Adult Trade, a 10% increase from last year’s numbers at the close of December 2010. In the United Kingdom, e-books accounted for 10% of Adult Trade. 2010 e-book number were not accounted for in the 2010 annual financial report.  In France e-books “have not triggered a breakthrough in the market yet,” according to the report. Overall e-books accounted for 6% of Lagardère’s Publishing’s total net sales.

Full-year results will be released on March 8th, 2012.