Regulatory announcements

Bloomsbury Publishing today announces that it is setting up a new business in India.

Among the fastest growing economies in the world, and with a rapidly increasing population where 50 million buy English books every year, India is an excellent market for the expanding and diverse product range of Bloomsbury. It is also steadily becoming an important source of authorship and will be a significant future ebooks market.

Bloomsbury has already been operating in India for 25 years with a long standing marketing and distribution partnership with Penguin. The Group now plans to grow its presence in India by setting up a wholly owned business. This is in line with the Group's strategy to globalise and further diversify, and follows the success of the recent licensing deal for the Wisden brand in India. Bloomsbury will focus in India on exploiting the exciting growth opportunities the country offers, leveraging the strength of the Group's large range, and also developing Indian authorship and publishing programmes. The timing is good with the Indian retail chain footprint increasing rapidly, growth of on-line retailers and the country's significant future ebook readership.

For Bloomsbury it is important that this key initiative is led by a trusted, experienced and respected leader. The Indian company will be led by Rajiv Beri, a highly-regarded publishing professional who has been Managing Director of Macmillan's Indian operations for over 15 years. The company will be based in Delhi and is expected to be operational by May 2012.

Nigel Newton, Chief Executive, commented:

"We are hugely enthusiastic about this new venture and are looking forward to building our presence in this growing market."

For further information, please contact:

Bloomsbury Publishing Plc- Bloomsbury Publishing is a leading independent publishing house with companies in London, New York, Berlin and Sydney. Its founder and Chief Executive is Nigel Newton. Its four divisions are:

Bloomsbury Academic & Professional Publishing - Bloomsbury Academic & Professional specialises in the humanities, social sciences, law and tax. In 2011 and 2012, it will be publishing online the digitized edition of the Winston Churchill Archive, as well as new digital services in Irish Law and Tax, UK Tax and Drama Online (with Faber). The division includes Continuum, Berg Publishers, Methuen Drama, Arden Shakespeare, Bristol Classical Press and Bloomsbury Professional.

Bloomsbury Information- includes a number of information databases for electronic as well as print publications. Publications include The Encarta World English Dictionary, The English Language Teaching Database, The Macmillan English Dictionary, Business: The Ultimate Resource, and others. Bloomsbury also provides management services for Bloomsbury Qatar Foundation Publishing, a division of the Qatar Foundation.

Bloomsbury Adult Publishing- a substantial list of successful authors including Khaled Hosseini, William Boyd, Margaret Atwood, Donna Tartt, Elizabeth Gilbert, Richard Ford, David Guterson, John Irving, Jay McInerney, Ben Schott, Anthony Bourdain, William Dalrymple, Ben Macintyre, Dava Sobel, Mark Kurlansky, Chelsea Handler, Heston Blumenthal, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and recent Man Booker Prize winner Howard Jacobson. The trade division also features significant reference projects including Wisden, Who's Who, Reed's Nautical and Whitaker's.

Bloomsbury Children's Publishing- a highly successful list including authors such as J.K.Rowling, Neil Gaiman, Debi Gliori, Alyxandra Harvey, Carrie Jones, Shannon Hale, Louis Sachar and Benjamin Zephaniah.