Bloomsbury praises Harry Potter as profit rises; confident in outlook

(Alliance News) - Bloomsbury Publishing PLC on Wednesday said that "pre-orders of major titles are exceptional" in its outlook, as it reported a profit rise despite a revenue fall as costs came down.

The London-based fiction and non-fiction publishing house said pretax profit rose 5.2% to GBP34.2 million in the financial year ended February 28, from GBP32.5 million a year prior.

Revenue fell 9.7% to GBP325.9 million from GBP361.0 million.

Cost of sales decreased by 15% to GBP134.3 million from GBP157.1 million, while administrative costs reduced 2.1% to GBP113.5 million from GBP115.9 million. Marketing and distribution costs came down 22% to GBP42.7 million from GBP54.6 million.

Bloomsbury proposed a final dividend per share of 12.12 pence, up 5.0% from 11.54p, bringing the total payout for financial 2026 to 16.20, a 5.0% rise from 15.43p.

"Harry Potter sales remain robust in the 29th year after first publication, demonstrating the enduring appeal of this classic series," Bloomsbury said.

The firm said its "Consumer division has a particularly strong pipeline" for the year ahead, adding that "the scale and resilience of our business continue to underpin the confidence we have in the future."

Bloomsbury said it is strongly confident of delivering results in line with recently upgraded expectations, citing anticipated revenue of GBP353.0 million for financial 2027, as well as pretax profit before highlighted items of GBP50.0 million, the latter which would be up 11% from GBP44.9 million in financial 2026.

Chief Executive Officer Nigel Newton said: "In Academic & Professional, we grew in print, digital and rights revenue in the second half and see encouraging signs of recovery with good growth in all territories in the current financial year. We announced our first participation in AI licensing for academic content in July 2025, and saw the outperformance of our Academic & Professional Division over the past year.

"Bloomsbury is benefitting from ongoing AI licensing revenue into the future in 2026/27. In addition, we have established Bloomsbury Singapore to spearhead growth in the expanding Asian markets."

Bloomsbury shares rose 1.3% to 610.00 pence each on Wednesday morning in London.

By Tom Budszus, Alliance News slot editor

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