Bloomsbury shares up:

LONDON (Reuters) - Bloomsbury, the UK publisher of the Harry Potter books, said on Wednesday it was on track to meet full-year pretax profit expectations of at least 20 million pounds.

The company (BMY.L: Quote, Profile, Research) said that sales for the latest book in the series, “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,” were strong and in line with expectations.

Shares rose 1.4 percent to 338 pence by 8:38 a.m.

“While positive, some investors may be disappointed by the lack of an upgrade,” said Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein analyst Richard Menzies-Gow. “However, JK Rowling has announced she has started to write the final (Harry Potter) book so there is the potential for this to be released in 2007.”