Bloomsbury Regulatory News (BMY)

30 Jun 2005 07:02

Bloomsbury Publishing PLC30 June 2005 30 June 2005 Bloomsbury Publishing Plc AGM Statement At today's AGM of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, Nigel Newton, Chairman, will makethe following statement: "Bloomsbury has made good progress since the beginning of the year, in line withthe outlook statement in the company's preliminary announcement in March. "In the UK, our titles The Promise of Happiness by Justin Cartwright, Magyk byAngie Sage, The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini and the paperback of The Two ofUs by Sheila Hancock have performed well. In Germany Schott's Sammelsurium(Schott's Original Miscellany) has spent most of 2005 in the Der SpeigelBestseller list and we now have a new bestseller, Die Siebte Nacht (The SeventhNight). "The integration of Walker Publishing Company, Inc. with Bloomsbury USA is wellunder way. Cost reductions and operational efficiencies have been implemented.The sales, warehousing and fulfilment operations have now been moved to VHPS,Bloomsbury USA's distributor. With the new infrastructure in place, theoperation will raise its output of titles through increasing its titleacquisition rate and the publication of its retained paperback rights beginningin 2006. "Our publishing programme in the second half of the year gets off to a strongstart with the launch of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince for which thepreparations are progressing in line with our expectations. The build up topublication has already stimulated increased sales of the earlier books in theseries. We will begin our biggest ever consumer advertising campaign on 4thJuly. The book will be launched at Edinburgh Castle, immediately after midnightat 00.01am on Saturday 16th July, when J K Rowling will read from the new bookin the Great Hall to an invited audience of children. The reading will be beamedby satellite transmission to television and radio stations around the world. "Also in the second half, we will publish the paperback edition in September ofJonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke and Ben Schott will be launchinga major new project with Bloomsbury in November, Schott's Almanac, which isdesigned to be a practical and entertaining annual volume, providing a biographyof the year through an intelligent analysis of the year's events. "With effect from today, Charles Black, who joined our board in June last year,will take-over the roles of Vice Chairman and senior independent non-executivedirector from Paul Scherer, who will continue as a non-executive director. Inhis new position, Charles Black will assume the Chairmanship of the RemunerationCommittee. He is already Chairman of the Audit Committee. In the next year, theboard anticipates appointing a new non-executive director. "The board continues to view the outcome of the year to be in line with marketexpectations." ENDS Enquiries: Tim Spratt/Charles PalmerFinancial Dynamics 020 7831 3113 Sandy Karon, PA to the Chief ExecutiveBloomsbury Publishing Plc 020 7494 6015 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange