Bloomsbury revenue rises 4%

Publisher Bloomsbury reported a decline in annual pre-tax profit, despite rising sales, as it declared a second interim dividend.The Harry Potter publisher said unadjusted pre-tax profit fell to £5.5m for the twelve months ended 31 December 2010 from £7.1m the year before after costs related to a move to new headquarters. Revenue for the year increased to £90.7m from £87.2m previously.Adjusted pre-tax profit pre-items, such as relocation costs, rose to £8.4m from £7.7m in 2009.Chief executive Nigel Newton commented, "Bloomsbury had an excellent year with a number of bestselling titles and particularly buoyant sales in the final quarter. We are also benefitting from our strong position in digital publishing which continues to experience exciting and unprecedented growth. With sales of digital devices such as the Kindle, Nook and iPad growing rapidly, 2011 will clearly be the year of the e-book."Bloomsbury reported its best performance ever from Bloomsbury US. E-book sales surged in 2010 from the previous year from $131,000 to $2.3m.In the UK revenue increased 6.5% to £62.7m, boosted by its Public Library Online project, which offers cost effective online access to books.Bloomsbury declared a second interim dividend per share of 3.91p, an increase of 7% on the 2009 final dividend of 3.65p.