(Reuters) - Bloomsbury Publishing forecast on Thursday performance in fiscal year 2024-2025 to be slightly above expectations after its annual profit jumped 57%, driven by robust demand for fantasy fiction titles, particularly by author Sarah J Maas.

The London-headquartered publisher of Harry Potter books posted a profit before taxation and highlighted items of 48.7 million pounds ($61.98 million) for the year ended Feb. 29, up from last year's profit of 31.1 million pounds.

Bloomsbury Chair Sir Richard Lambert will retire and step down from the board after seven years, the company said, adding that John Bason, the current independent non-executive director, shall succeed Lambert.

($1 = 0.7857 pounds)

(Reporting by Yamini Kalia in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)