Random  House shared its annual revenue and profits records revealing EL James's Fifty Shades trilogy was instrumental in the publishing house's record breaking numbers.

Random House has every reason to flaunt its annual revenue and profits records of 2012. EL James's Fifty Shades trilogy led the publishing house to post record-breaking numbers with operating profit leaping 75% year on year to $417.8 million in 2012.

James's "Fifty Shades of Grey" and sequels "Fifty Shades Darker" and "Fifty Shades Freed" sold more than 70 million copies. According to Random House's report, more than 50% of revenue from the trilogy came from eBooks. Fifty Shades accounted for almost one in 10 of the 750m books Random House sold globally in print or online across the year.

"In 2012 our profits and sales hit an absolute record level, a historic all-time high," said the Random House chairman and chief executive, Markus Dohle. "Our success has shown again one thing very clearly, that the core of our business in the 21st century, in a digital age, remains the same. It is so important to continually invest in content and creativity and to market that well."

Executives at the Bertelsmann-owned company are awaiting final clearance on a merger with Pearson's Penguin. Bertelsmann chief executive, Thomas Rabe, also hailed the success of Fifty Shades, adding that Random House had 33 books top the New York Times 2012 bestseller list, including John Grisham's, The Racketeer and Rod Stewart's autobiography.

"Clearly Fifty Shades was the main driver but it was not the only one," Rabe said, speaking in Berlin on Tuesday morning as the company unveiled its 2012 results. "In the middle of May we have Dan Brown's Inferno coming."