REG - BloomsburyPublishing - Trading Update

Bloomsbury PublishingAnnouncement

15/03/2023 07:00

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RNS Number : 9752S  Bloomsbury Publishing PLC  15 March 2023

BLOOMSBURY PUBLISHING PLC

("Bloomsbury" or "the Company")

 

Trading Update

 

Revenue comfortably ahead and profit materially ahead of expectations

 

Bloomsbury Publishing Plc (LSE: BMY), the leading independent publisher, today
announces a year-end trading update for the 12 months ending 28 February 2023.

 

Revenue is now expected to be over £260 million and profit before taxation
and highlighted items is expected to be some £30 million for the year ended
28 February 2023.* This follows strong trading at the end of the year.

 

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

 

"Bloomsbury's unique position in combining consumer and academic publishing
combined with our investment in high quality content and company acquisitions
has enabled us to achieve excellent trading for the year. We have seen strong
demand for our titles - in print, ebook and audio - and continued digital
growth. Two of our strongest performances in the year have come from very
disparate ends of our publishing strategy - fantasy novels on the one
hand and academic digital resources on the other - showing how well our
balanced consumer and academic portfolio is working in practice.

 

Throughout a year which has been characterised by rising inflation and cost of
living pressure, it is notable that reading remains hugely popular throughout
the world with books regarded by many readers as an affordable pastime."

 

Consumer

 

Strong trading in the Consumer division was driven by both frontlist and core
backlist titles. Samantha Shannon's new novel, A Day of Fallen Night was
published in February 2023 and became an instant bestseller worldwide. Other
bestsellers included Johan Hari's Stolen Focus and BAKE by Paul Hollywood.
Strong backlist sales continued, in particular for Sarah J. Maas, as well as
The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon, The Song of Achilles by
Madeline Miller and Dishoom: From Bombay with Love by Shamil Thakrar, Kavi
Thakrar and Naved Nasir.

 

On 11 March 2023, Peter Frankopan's new title The Earth Transformed reached
number two in the Sunday Times bestseller lists, and Samantha Shannon's A Day
of Fallen Night reached number one in the Sunday Times and number three in the
New York Times bestseller lists.

 

We are particularly pleased to announce the signing this week of a further
four book contract with Sarah J. Maas, on top of the three future books
already under contract.

 

Non-Consumer

 

We achieved strong growth in Bloomsbury Digital Resources through leveraging
our acquisition of ABC-CLIO and continued organic growth. ABC-CLIO brought to
Bloomsbury a portfolio of digital academic resources, with a major presence in
the US high school library market, and opportunities for accessing wider,
international markets with their products. We are encouraged by the pipeline
of further cross-selling and growth opportunities from ABC-CLIO. We have
launched a new platform for our academic streaming content, Bloomsbury Video
Library, with more than 2,000 films spanning a vast range of subjects.

 

We will provide further details about the year ending 28 February 2023 with
our preliminary results announcement.

 

 

* The Board considers current consensus market expectations for the year
ending 28 February 2023 to be revenue of £242.6 million and profit before
taxation and highlighted items of £26.9 million.

 

 

For further information, please contact:

 Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
 Nigel Newton, Chief Executive                   nigel.newton@bloomsbury.com
 Penny Scott-Bayfield, Group Finance Director    penny.scott-bayfield@bloomsbury.com
 Hudson Sandler                                  +44 (0) 20 7796 4133
 Dan de Belder / Amelia Craddock / Emily Booker  bloomsbury@hudsonsandler.com

 

The information contained within this announcement is deemed by the Group to
constitute inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulations
(EU) No. 596/2014 ("MAR"). Upon the publication of this announcement via a
Regulatory Information Service ("RIS"), this inside information is now
considered to be in the public domain.

 

The information in this announcement has not been audited or otherwise
independently verified and no representation or warranty, express or implied,
is made as to, and no reliance should be placed on, the fairness, accuracy,
completeness or correctness of the information or opinions contained herein.
None of the Company or any of its affiliates, advisors or representatives
shall have any liability whatsoever (in negligence or otherwise) for any loss
whatsoever arising from any use of this announcement, or its contents, or
otherwise arising in connection with this announcement.

 

This announcement does not constitute or form part of any offer or invitation
to sell, or any solicitation of any offer to purchase any shares in the
Company, nor shall it or any part of it or the fact of its distribution form
the basis of, or be relied on in connection with, any contract or commitment
or investment decisions relating thereto, nor does it constitute a
recommendation regarding the shares of the Company.

 

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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