Regulatory announcements

Upgrading full year expectations after record first half revenue and profit

Bloomsbury Publishing Plc (LSE: BMY, “Bloomsbury” or “the Company”), the leading independent publisher, today announces unaudited results for the six months ended 31 August 2024.

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

“Bloomsbury’s strong results reflect implementation of the recently announced Bloomsbury 2030 vision, focused on our growth, portfolio and people. We have achieved our fifth consecutive double-digit growth in the first half with revenue growth of 32% to £179.8m, an increase of £43.1m, and profit¹ growth of 50% to £26.6m, an increase of £8.9m. We have acquired Rowman & Littlefield, significantly strengthening our academic portfolio. We have been awarded the Great Place to Work Certification^TM recognising the motivation and commitment of the people who work at Bloomsbury. Bloomsbury was admitted to the FTSE 250 on 1 August. Finally, we have risen to be the 39^th largest publisher in the world up from 51^st in 2020 according to the recent Global Publishing Ranking league table.

Consumer division revenue growth of 47% was driven by the continued success of our fantasy fiction and a wide range of bestsellers from cookery to novels. Bloomsbury was voted Children’s Publisher of the Year 2024 at the British Book Awards and our international success was recognised by winning the British Book Award for Export. In the Academic division, we achieved revenue growth of 6%; the integration of Rowman & Littlefield is progressing well, its sales are on target and Bloomsbury Digital Resources (“BDR”) grew by 2%. Rowman & Littlefield will accelerate BDR’s growth, as Bloomsbury applies its proven ability to create digital revenues to Rowman & Littlefield’s market leading titles.

Following our strong performance in the first half of this year and good trading in September and October, we now expect trading for full year 2024/25 to be ahead of the current consensus² expectation.” 

Operational Highlights

Consumer Division

• Consumer revenue up 47% to £131.3m (H1 2023/24: £89.4m) and profit before taxation and highlighted items³ up 91% to £21.4m (H1 2023/24: £11.2m)
• Sarah J. Maas’ sales grew by 102% (H1 2023/24: 79%)
• J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series continues to be a bestseller 27 years after publication
• Bloomsbury won Children’s Publisher of the Year and the Export Award at the British Book Awards

Non-Consumer Division

• Non-Consumer revenue growth of 3% to £48.5m (H1 2023/24: £47.3m) and profit before taxation and highlighted items³ of £5.2m (H1 2023/24: £5.9m)
• Academic & Professional revenue grew by 6% to £38.5m (H1 2023/24: £36.4m) and profit before taxation and highlighted items³ grew by 3% to £6.0m (H1 2023/24: £5.9m) with margin of 16%
• Academic & Professional organic revenue declined 14% mainly due to current UK and US budgetary pressures and the accelerated shift from print to digital, against a background of student numbers being projected to grow worldwide⁴
• Rowman & Littlefield has traded in line with our expectations, contributing £7.2m revenue
• We have started to implement efficiencies in the enlarged Academic division and the Rowman & Littlefield integration is progressing well
• BDR revenue increased organically to £13.7m (H1 2023/24: £13.3m) and remains on track for the target c.£41m revenue in 2027/28

Financial Highlights

Notes

¹  Profit before taxation and highlighted items.

²  The Board considers consensus market expectations (before this publication) for the year ending 28 February 2025 to be revenue of £319.3m and profit before taxation and highlighted items of £37.5m.

³  Highlighted items comprise amortisation of acquired intangible assets and legal and other professional costs relating to ongoing and completed acquisitions, integration and restructuring costs.

⁴  World Bank estimates that globally there will be 380m higher education students by 2030 up 73% from 220m in 2021.

⁵  Organic revenue for H1 2024/25 is defined as total revenue of £179.8m less revenue attributable to the acquisition of Rowman & Littlefield in the period.

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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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