Regulatory announcements

Success of portfolio of portfolios strategy leads to exceptional sales up 30% and profits up 57% with full year dividend up 25%
Revenue and profit for 2024/25 upgraded

Bloomsbury Publishing Plc (LSE: BMY), the leading independent publisher, today announces audited results for the year ended 29 February 2024.

Commenting on the results, Nigel Newton, Chief Executive, said:

“We had an outstanding year at Bloomsbury with exceptional trading leading to the highest revenue and profit in Bloomsbury’s 37 year history. Our sales are up £79m, an increase of 30% from £264m to £343m. Profit is up £18m, an increase of 57% from £31m to £49m. This dramatic increase arises from our entrepreneurial diversification strategy which has forged a portfolio of portfolios combining consumer and academic publishing across formats, territories and subject areas, a resilient model delivering long-term success.

Consumer revenue growth was 49%.  Recent success has been principally driven by the increasing demand for fantasy fiction. Sarah J. Maas is a publishing phenomenon and we are very fortunate to have signed her up with her first book 14 years ago.  Her books have captivated a huge audience, supported by major Bloomsbury promotional campaigns, driving strong word of mouth recommendation, particularly through social media channels.

Bloomsbury Digital Resources increased sales to £27m and remains on course to achieve its target of c.£37m turnover in 2027/28 though Non-Consumer sales were slightly down by 4% to £93.4 million. Bloomsbury is well placed, despite the end of US government COVID relief funding, to capitalise on the continued structural shift to digital learning and is confident in the long-term growth opportunities of the Non-Consumer division given the significant growth projections for higher education. The World Bank estimates that globally there will be 380 million higher education students by 2030, up from 220 million students in 2021, which itself more than doubled the enrolment figures from 2000.

In recognition of this performance and in accordance with our progressive dividend policy, the Board recommends a final dividend of 10.99 pence per share, taking our full year dividend to 14.69 pence per share, an increase of 25% year on year.

Trading for 2024/25 is expected to be slightly ahead of current consensus expectation¹. Expectations for 2024/25 reflect the exceptional performance in 2023/24, and that we are not expecting to publish a new Sarah J. Maas title in the year ending 28 February 2025. Last week, we won five awards at the British Book Awards including Children’s Publisher of the Year. Today we launch Bloomsbury 2030, setting out our vision for the Company over the next six years.

Bloomsbury has a clear strategy. Our strong cash generation and balance sheet enables us to continue investing in innovative content and authors, as well as capitalising on emerging opportunities. As a result of these strengths, the genius of our authors and the skill of our people worldwide at our unique combination of literary and scholarly publishing, we remain confident in Bloomsbury’s ability to deliver continued success.”

Note

1. The Board considers consensus market expectation (before this publication) for the year ending 28 February 2025 to be revenue of £283.6m and profit before taxation and highlighted items of £35.4m.

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Financial Highlights

Operational Highlights

Consumer Division

• Consumer revenue growth of 49% to £249.2m (2022/23: £166.7m)
• Consumer profit before taxation and highlighted items¹ up 108% to £37.8m (2022/23: £18.1m)
• Commercial and literary success across the portfolio with exceptional performance from sales of Sarah J. Maas’ titles, up 161%, Katherine Rundell, Samantha Shannon and continued strong sales of Harry Potter, 26 years since first publication

Non-Consumer Division

• Non-Consumer revenue was £93.4m (2022/23: £97.4m)
• Non-Consumer profit before taxation and highlighted items¹ was £9.9m (2022/23: £13.1m)
• Academic & Professional revenue was £70.5m (2022/23: £75.7m) and profit before taxation and highlighted items¹ was £9.3m (2022/23: £12.4m)
• Bloomsbury Digital Resources (“BDR”) revenue growth of 2% to £26.6m (2022/23: £26.2m)
• Reiterate BDR target to achieve c.£37m of turnover with 40% organic revenue growth over five years to 2027/28.

Note

¹ Highlighted items comprise amortisation of acquired intangible assets and legal and other professional costs relating to ongoing and completed acquisitions and restructuring costs.

Disclaimer

Certain statements, statistics and projections in this announcement are or may be forward looking. By their nature, forward‑looking statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties or assumptions that may or may not occur and actual results or events may differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Accordingly, no assurance can be given that any particular expectation will be met and reliance should not be placed on any forward-looking statement. Accordingly, forward-looking statements contained in this announcement regarding past trends or activities should not be taken as representation that such trends or activities will continue in the future. You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which are based on the knowledge and information available only at the date of this announcement’s preparation. The Company does not undertake any obligation to update or keep current the information contained in this announcement, including any forward‑looking statements, or to correct any inaccuracies which may become apparent and any opinions expressed in it are subject to change without notice. References in this announcement to other reports or materials, such as a website address, have been provided to direct the reader to other sources of information on Bloomsbury Publishing Plc which may be of interest. Neither the content of Bloomsbury’s website nor any website accessible by hyperlinks from Bloomsbury’s website nor any additional materials contained or accessible thereon, are incorporated in, or form part of, this announcement.

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