Regulatory announcements

Bloomsbury Publishing Plc announces results for the six months ended 31 August 2016.

Group Financial Highlights

• Total revenues up 19% to £62.7 million (2015: £52.7 million)
• Digital revenues up 8% to £7.7 million (2015: £7.1 million)
• Print revenues up 25% to £51.7 million (2015: £41.4 million)
• Adjusted* profit before tax £1.5 million (2015: £1.9 million)
• Profit before tax £0.1 million (2015: £0.3 million)
• Net cash up to £9.1 million (2015: £0.9 million)
• Interim dividend up 4% to 1.10 pence per share (2015: 1.06 pence per share)
• Adjusted* diluted earnings per share 1.65 pence (2015: 2.06 pence)
• Diluted earnings per share 0.15 pence (2015: 0.36 pence)

Consumer division

• Revenues increased 36% to £37.3 million (2015: £27.5 million), driven by Children’s Trade where revenues increased 63% to £23.9 million
• J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter continued its growth – with the children’s editions selling well and strong sales of the Illustrated Editionof Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
• Sarah J. Maas revenues grew 101% year on year with the publication of the second book in the A Court of Thorns and Roses series, A Court of Mist and Fury
• Adult Trade division revenues increased by 5% to £13.4 million in the period, including Peter Frankopan’s The Silk Roads and Hannah Rothschild’s The Improbability of Love
• Paul Beatty’s The Sellout, published by Oneworld and distributed by Bloomsbury in Australia, won the Man Booker Prize on Tuesday

Non-Consumer division

• Total revenues of £25.4 million (2015: £25.2 million), including the effect of the end of the Qatar Foundation contract and the acquisition of certain family law publishing titles as announced in December 2015
• Academic and professional digital resources revenues doubled year on year to £2.0 million (2015: £1.0 million)
• Bloomsbury was shortlisted for Academic, Educational and Professional Publisher of the Year at the Bookseller Industry Awards for the fourth year in a row
• Some key bestselling titles from the Non-Consumer division include The 100-Year Life and Age of Discovery, selected respectively for the shortlist and longlist for the 2016 Financial Times and McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award

Note: Pro forma historic financial results

In May 2016, Bloomsbury announced a reorganisation from four to two divisions, Consumer and Non-Consumer, to simplify our business and increase our customer focus. Historic results for the years ending 29 February 2016 and 28 February 2015 have been restated in line with this new structure and are available at www.Bloomsbury-ir.co.uk.

Note: *Adjusted results are calculated before deducting highlighted items. Highlighted items mainly comprise amortisation of acquired intangible assets and costs relating to acquisitions and major restructuring.

Commenting on the results, Nigel Newton, Chief Executive of Bloomsbury Publishing, said:
"This has been a strong period for Bloomsbury. We are making good progress towards our strategic objectives with an increase in revenues of 19% and growth in each of our territories. The Children’s Trade division delivered another outstanding performance, increasing revenues by 63%.

The Group is trading in line with management’s expectations. We have a strong second half list including the Illustrated Editionof Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them - Newt Scamander: A Movie Scrapbook, Empire of Storms by Sarah J. Maas, the Throne of Glass Colouring Book, Mad Enchantment by Ross King, Tom Kerridge’s Dopamine Diet, Commonwealth by Ann Patchett, Bloomsbury Professional’s Tax Looseleafs and Last Testament: In His Own Words by Pope Benedict XVI. October is the peak period for academic book sales and Christmas for the sales of consumer books. We therefore expect our results to continue to be significantly second-half weighted, as in past years.

In the coming months we expect to deliver the platform and associated infrastructure to accelerate digital revenues in line with Bloomsbury’s 2020 plan, and specifically to see the launch of the Arcadian Library Online and Bloomsbury Popular Music, the latest two resources in our growing range of digital products.”

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