Bloomsbury Reports Unaudited Interim Results for the Six Months Ended 31 August 2020

Commenting on the results, Nigel Newton, Chief Executive, said: “Bloomsbury experienced excellent trading in the first half with year-on-year profit growth of 60% to £4.0 million. This has delivered our highest first half earnings since 2008 and exceeded the Board’s expectations.

Online book sales and e-book revenues were significantly higher.

The Consumer division had an excellent performance with 17% revenue growth and a £2.1 million increase in profit before tax and highlighted items to £2.7 million. Stand-out bestsellers during the period included Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People about Race, Crescent City: House of Earth and Blood, White Rage, Humankind and Such A Fun Age.

In the Non-Consumer division, our strategy of developing online academic resources, conceived five years ago, meant we were well placed to benefit from the accelerated shift by academic institutions to digital products to support remote learning. We saw 47% growth in sales of Bloomsbury Digital Resources as a result.

Bloomsbury is in a strong financial position, with net cash of £44.1 million at 31 August 2020, as a result of excellent trading in the first half and the swift measures taken by the Board to control costs and strengthen Bloomsbury’s balance sheet. The strength of our financial position meant that we continued to operate effectively, invest in new content, and build a strong pipeline of authors and titles. Bloomsbury is well positioned for the future, with sufficient working capital and significant headroom for acquisitions opportunities.

In light of our strong financial position and the importance of our dividend policy, we are resuming an interim dividend of 1.28 pence per share, in line with last year.

I would like to thank our staff, authors, illustrators, distributors and suppliers for their resilience, initiative and determination. They continue to be motivated, adaptable and effective, which is demonstrated by the strength of our first half performance. This, together with the strength of our publishing strategy supported by our solid financial position, gives me confidence in Bloomsbury’s future performance.”

Financial Highlights
*Revenues increased by 10% to £78.3 million (2019: £71.3 million)
*Profit before taxation and highlighted items1 grew by 60% to £4.0 million (2019: £2.5 million)
*Profit before taxation grew by £1.7 million to £3.0 million (2019: £1.3 million)
*Diluted earnings per share, excluding highlighted items1, grew by 55% to 4.13 pence (2019: 2.66 pence)2
*Diluted earnings per share grew by 131% to 2.87 pence (2019: 1.24 pence)2
*Net cash of £44.1 million at 31 August 2020, up £24.0 million from last year (2019: £20.1 million)
*Interim dividend of 1.28 pence per share (2019: 1.28 pence per share)
more detail at: https://www.bloomsbury-ir.co.uk/media/press_releases/2020/271020

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