Our strategy

Non-Consumer
Publishing; BDR

Grow Bloomsbury’s portfolio in Non- Consumer publishing

Non-Consumer publishing is characterised by

higher, more predictable margins, is less reliant on retailers and presents

greater digital and global opportunities. Non- Consumer revenues are derived from our Academic & Professional, Educational and Special Interest publishing.

Achieved 2023/2024:

• £93.4m in Non- Consumer revenue.

BDR target is to achieve a further 40% organic revenue growth over the five years to 2027/2028, to reach c.£37m turnover

Achieved 2023/2024:

• £26.6m revenue and 322% growth over five years

Consumer
publishing

Discover, nurture, champion and retain high-quality authors and illustrators, while looking at new ways to leverage existing title rights

Achieved 2023/2024:

• Delivered 49% growth in Consumer Division revenue. Bestsellers Katherine Rundell’s Impossible Creatures, Louise Kennedy’s Trespasses, Ann Patchett’s Tom Lake, Samantha Shannon’s 10th anniversary reissue of The Bone Season, The Priory of the Orange Tree and A Day of Fallen Night and Martha Mumford and Cherie Zamazing’s bestselling Bunny Adventures series.

Grow our key authors through effective publishing across all formats alongside strategic sales and marketing

Achieved 2023/2024:

• 161% growth in revenue from sales of Sarah J. Maas titles. Sarah J. Maas’ new title Crescent City: House of Flame and Shadow became a global No.1 bestseller on publication on 30 January 2024 and drove sales in her backlist titles. Bloomsbury has six new titles contracted.

As the originating publisher of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series, ensure that new children discover and read it for pleasure every year

Achieved 2023/2024:

• Harry Potter title sales remain strong, 26 years after first publication. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone was the UK’s No.1 bestselling children’s book of the year for the first time since 2002. The Bloomsbury conceived The Harry Potter Wizarding Almanac was a No.1 Sunday Times bestseller and a No.1 New York Times bestseller.

International expansion

Expand international revenues

Continue our international growth and take advantage of the biggest academic market in the USA

Achieved 2023/2024:

• International revenues increased to 77% of Group revenue (2022/2023: 73%); US revenues increased to 56% of Group revenue (2022/2023: 48%).

Employee experience and engagement;
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion ("DE&I")

Be an attractive employer for all individuals seeking a career in publishing, regardless of background or identity, adding cultural value to our business operations and performance

Focus on targeted initiatives to create an environment that promotes diversity, nurtures talent, stimulates creativity and collaboration, supports wellbeing and is inclusive and respectful of difference

Implement Bloomsbury’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Action Plan

Our success is driven by the expertise, passion and commitment of our employees. We understand the importance of attracting, supporting and engaging colleagues wherever they work. We recognise the value of diversity of thought, perspectives and experience in shaping our culture and strategy, driving our long-term success and informing the ways in which we fulfil our social purpose.

Achieved 2023/2024:

• Won the Small Cap Network Diversity, Inclusivity and Engagement award.
• Bloomsbury rolled out its Career Framework initiative to all employees in the US and UK, a transparent and fair pay and grading structure underpinning our reward scheme and career progression programme.
• Achieved 2023/2024: 16% of UK employees are from minority ethnic groups (2022/2023: 15%). 25% of US employees are from minority ethnic groups (2022/2023 26%).
• All employees received a one-off £1,250 payment to share in our exceptional performance, in addition to the group wide bonus scheme.
• Delivered a new comprehensive medical insurance plan for UK employees.
• Launched the Bloomsbury Writer’s Mentorship Programme, to support unpublished, underrepresented fiction writers. The programme is open to people of colour, those from lower socio-economic backgrounds, those living with a disability and those from the LGBTQ+ community. Proving the importance of integrating with this community, Bloomsbury received 800 entries in the first year and announced its first winner, Alice McCusker, in March 2024.
• Launched the Bloomsbury Academic Writing Fellowship, open to UK-based authors and researchers with African or African Caribbean heritage, to uncover new authors and give new voices a platform. This was awarded to Fellow Tionne Alliyah Parris who will receive an editorial mentorship, £1,000 financial support, practical resources and event and networking opportunities.
• Launched the Academic & Professional Widening Access Fund pilot, to provide financial support for authors who may not otherwise be able to publish with us.
• Official partner of The Runnymede Trust’s Lit in Colour initiative, supporting the increase in students’ access to books by writers of colour and those from minority ethnic backgrounds, drawing on our world-leading drama list from Methuen Drama. As official partner of the Lit in Colour initiative, in November 2023 Bloomsbury launched ‘The (Incomplete) Lit in Colour Play List’ with 57 plays from an eventual 172. Lit in Colour won Outstanding Drama Initiative 2024 at the Music and Drama Education Awards.

Sustainability

Maximise our use of sustainable resources while seeking to reduce carbon emissions in line with our targets

We recognise our responsibility to conserve the Earth’s resources and we are committed to monitoring and improving the environmental impact of

our operations. In 2023/2024 Bloomsbury restated base year emissions across Scope 1, 2 and 3 using current methodology and the use of more granular data in our emissions calculations. We have restated the 2022/2023 and 2019/2020 (base

year) comparatives in our reporting. Restated figures include data for acquired companies ABC-CLIO and Head of Zeus from the base year.

Achieved 2023/2024:

• Bloomsbury is delighted to have received the IPG Sustainability Award and the London Book Fair inaugural Sustainability Initiative Award.
• 77% reduction in Scope 1 and 2 emissions in four years.
• Completed the CDP Climate Change questionnaire, receiving the second highest score of B, demonstrating our coordinated response to climate change.