OUTSTANDING sales of bestsellers from authors such as John Le Carre and Stephen King and the autobiography of soccer star Kenny Dalglish helped book publishers Hodder Headline achieve a Christmas sales boost.

The company said sales on a like-for-like basis grew by 9 per cent in 1996 compared with the previous year. In the last three months of the year sales rose by 12 per cent compared with the same quarter in 1995.