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LONDON (Alliance News) - Bloomsbury Publishing PLC on Tuesday said its pretax profit declined in the first half of its financial year, but said it expects its results to be weighted to the second half as it edged up its interim dividend payout.
The book publisher said its pretax profit for the six months to the end of August fell to GBP300,000 from GBP500,000 a year earlier, despite revenue rising to GBP52.7 million from GBP46.6 million. In the half, the group booked costs related to the restructuring of the Bloomsbury Information arm, plus further amortisation costs on past acquisitions.
Children's & Educational revenue in the half was up 45% to GBP16.3 million, the company said, with strong performances from 'Paper Towns' by young-adult author John Green and good sales from the new children's editions of the Harry Potter books.
Adult revenue rose 6.0% to GBP20.4 million, including a GBP3.2 million contribution from Osprey Publishing, bought in December 2014. Academic & Professional sales rose 3.0% to GBP14.4 million, while digital revenue rose 21% to GBP2.5 million.
The group said it would pay an interim dividend of 1.06 pence per share, slightly up on the 1.02p it paid a year earlier.
Bloomsbury said its results will be weighted to the second-half due to the key Christmas period and sales of academic titles peaking at the start of the academic year in September. It is confident on the outlook, with the illustrated edition of Harry Potter due to be released in the second half, along with cooking books from Tom Kerridge and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall ahead of the festive season.
By Sam Unsted; samunsted@alliancenews.com; @SamUAtAlliance
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