--- title: Bastei Lübbe sold more, earned less. Could it happen to you? description: Bastei Lübbe's revenue rose 3.8% but its EBIT margin nearly halved. What the numbers reveal, and the question every print business should ask. image: https://www.mwm.se/hubfs/Print%20Cost%20Watch.jpg --- [Skip to content](https://www.mwm.se/insights/sales-up-profit-down-bastei-luebbe#main-content) [![MWM](https://www.mwm.se/hubfs/raw_assets/public/mwm-theme/images/mwm-logo.svg) Print365](https://www.mwm.se/?hsLang=en) - [Home](https://www.mwm.se) - [Print365](https://www.mwm.se/print-365) - [Print365 Go](https://www.mwm.se/print-365-go) - [Print365 Pro](https://www.mwm.se/print-365-pro) - [Print365 Integrated](https://www.mwm.se/print-365-integrated) - [Print365 DatAInsights](https://www.mwm.se/print365-datainsights) - [FAQ](https://www.mwm.se/print-365-faq) - [About MWM](https://www.mwm.se/about) - [Management team](https://www.mwm.se/team) - [Careers](https://www.mwm.se/careers) [Book a demo](https://www.mwm.se/book-a-demo?hsLang=en) English - [Deutsch](https://www.mwm.se/de/insights/umsatz-rauf-gewinn-runter-bastei-luebbe) - [English](https://www.mwm.se/insights/sales-up-profit-down-bastei-luebbe) Blog # Bastei Lübbe sold more. They earned less. Could this happen to you too? --- **Jan Aleite** · July 21, 2026 ![Bastei Lübbe sold more. They earned less. Could this happen to you too?](https://www.mwm.se/hubfs/Print%20Cost%20Watch.jpg) Sales Up, Profit Down: The Upside Bastei Lübbe Just Pointed To One of Germany's biggest book publishers just posted the kind of year every business quietly fears. Revenue went up. Profit did not follow. Here is what happened, in the numbers that matter. - Revenue rose 3.8 percent, to 118.4 million euros. - Group EBIT fell to 9.3 million euros. - EBIT margin dropped from 15.0 percent to 7.9 percent, roughly half of what it was. - Total costs grew 11.5 percent, far ahead of sales. Sell more, keep less. That is the short version. And it usually means one thing. Cost grew faster than revenue did, quietly, until the gap showed up in the bottom line. Here is the good part. Bastei Lübbe already knows where to look. They named three levers for next year: optimizing print costs, cutting the share spent on royalties and fees, and tighter cost discipline overall. Print costs made that list first. Next year, they expect EBIT to grow much faster than revenue again, targeting 10 to 12 million euros. That is the real takeaway. A weak market is hard to fix. A cost structure is not, once you can actually see it clearly. So the question worth asking in your own business. If sales went up and profit still fell, would you know exactly where to look first? ## FAQ ### Why did Bastei Lübbe's profit fall even though sales grew? Revenue rose 3.8 percent to €118.4 million, but total costs grew 11.5 percent, far outpacing sales. That gap pulled EBIT down to €9.3 million and cut the EBIT margin from 15.0 percent to 7.9 percent, roughly half of what it was. ### What is Bastei Lübbe doing to fix its margin? They named three levers for next year: [optimizing print costs](https://www.mwm.se/print-365-pro?hsLang=en), cutting the share spent on royalties and fees, and tighter cost discipline overall. Print costs are first on that list, with EBIT targeted to grow back to €10-12 million. ### How can a publisher spot a cost problem like this before it hits the year-end result? The warning sign is costs growing faster than revenue, which often hides inside print production costs until it surfaces at year-end. A connected [Print MIS](https://www.mwm.se/print-365?hsLang=en) that tracks paper, production and billing in real time surfaces that gap month by month instead of once a year. ## Want to dig deeper? Here are the sources [Bastei Lübbes Geschäftsbericht 2025/26](https://buchmarkt.de/2026/07/14/bastei-luebbes-geschaeftsbericht-2025-26-gesteigerter-umsatz-bei-reduzierter-profitabilitaet-in-schwierigem-marktumfeld/) [Bastei Lübbe: Umsatz wächst, EBIT sinkt](https://www.boersenblatt.net/news/verlage-news/bastei-luebbe-umsatz-waechst-ebit-sinkt-431281) ![MWM Group logo mark](https://www.mwm.se/hubfs/raw_assets/public/mwm-theme/images/mwm-logo.svg) --- ## Get the Insights first Practical takes on cutting print waste and running a modern print operation. No fluff, unsubscribe anytime. [Or book a demo →](https://www.mwm.se/book-a-demo?hsLang=en) ## More from the blog [![Print365 graphic reading Offset keeps the volume, Digital keeps the titles](https://www.mwm.se/hubfs/mwm-theme/digital-print-second-press.png)](https://www.mwm.se/insights/digital-printing-short-run-newspaper-titles?hsLang=en) ### [Say yes to the titles your offset press has to turn down](https://www.mwm.se/insights/digital-printing-short-run-newspaper-titles?hsLang=en) September 14, 2026 [![Production manager at a monitor reviewing an automatically generated collective invoice in Print365](https://www.mwm.se/hubfs/mwm-theme/print365-mis-erp-migration.png)](https://www.mwm.se/insights/how-to-switch-print-mis-erp-without-missing-an-edition?hsLang=en) ### [How to switch Print MIS/ERP Without missing an edition](https://www.mwm.se/insights/how-to-switch-print-mis-erp-without-missing-an-edition?hsLang=en) September 10, 2026 [![Print365 graphic reading One copy count, from plate to pallet](https://www.mwm.se/hubfs/mwm-theme/copytrack-pressroom-mailroom.png)](https://www.mwm.se/insights/pressroom-mailroom-one-copy-count-copytrack?hsLang=en) ### [Pressroom + mailroom = CopyTrack One copy count, from plate to pallet](https://www.mwm.se/insights/pressroom-mailroom-one-copy-count-copytrack?hsLang=en) September 7, 2026 [![MWM](https://www.mwm.se/hubfs/raw_assets/public/mwm-theme/images/mwm-logo.svg) Print365](https://www.mwm.se/?hsLang=en) - [Home](https://www.mwm.se) - [Print365](https://www.mwm.se/print-365) - [FAQ](https://www.mwm.se/print-365-faq) - [About MWM](https://www.mwm.se/about) [Book a demo](https://www.mwm.se/book-a-demo?hsLang=en) © 2026 MWM Group AB · C/O The Works, Medborgarplatsen 25, 118 72 Stockholm [Privacy Policy](https://www.mwm.se/privacy-policy?hsLang=en) · [Terms of Use](https://www.mwm.se/terms-and-conditions?hsLang=en) · [Accessibility](https://www.mwm.se/accessibility-statement?hsLang=en) [+46 8 500 087 70](tel:+46850008770) · [info@mwm.se](mailto:info@mwm.se) · [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/company/mwmgroupab/) ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@id" : "https://www.mwm.se/#organization", "@type" : "Organization", "address" : { "@type" : "PostalAddress", "addressCountry" : "SE", "addressLocality" : "Stockholm", "postalCode" : "118 72", "streetAddress" : "C/O The Works, Medborgarplatsen 25" }, "alternateName" : [ "MWM Group AB", "MWM Group for Print & Publishing" ], "contactPoint" : { "@type" : "ContactPoint", "availableLanguage" : [ "en", "de", "sv" ], "contactType" : "sales", "email" : "info@mwm.se", "telephone" : "+46 8 500 087 70" }, "description" : "MWM Group AB develops Print365, the Print MIS / ERP for newspaper and commercial printing production. 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