UPDATE 1-Bloomsbury '08 trading in line, sees stable profit

* Says good sales helped by strong publishing programme

* Expects investment income to decline in 2009

* Says long-term contracts to give profit stability (Adds details)

Jan 15 (Reuters) - Bloomsbury Publishing Plc (BLPU.L) said on Thursday its trading for 2008 was in line with its expectations on the back of good sales, driven by a strong publishing programme.

The British firm, which publishes JK Rowling's Harry Potter series and Schott's Almanac, said it expected investment income to decline in 2009 in line with the fall in the UK bank base rate and it was mindful of the impact of global economic slowdown on the book publishing market.

"A handful of customers have already closed or are in administration but books have been reasonably resilient in previous economic downturns," Bloomsbury said.

The company said its long-term contracts and licences, signed over the past two years, would provide greater certainty of cash flow and profit stability over the next five years.

Bloomsbury, which published the two highest selling books of the year in the Times list of top bestsellers of 2008 and three of the top ten, said period-end cash for the group was likely to be in excess of 50 million pounds ($73.14 million).

At 0818 GMT, Bloomsbury shares were up 1.3 percent at 155 pence. ($1=.6836 Pound) (Reporting by Usman Merchant in Bangalore; Editing by Gopakumar Warrier)