Bloomsbury Regulatory News (BMY)

23 Jul 2007 17:15

Bloomsbury Publishing PLC23 July 2007 BLOOMSBURY PUBLISHING Plc RECORD BREAKING FIRST 24 HOUR SALES OF HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, the children's, adult and reference book publisher,announced today that first day sales of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallowshave been exceptional and, according to NielsenBookScan, the independent booktrade monitoring service, 2,652,656 copies were sold in the first 24 hours inthe UK. This record figure represents a 32% increase on the comparable figurefor first day sales of the previous title, Harry Potter and the Half BloodPrince, in July 2005 of 2,009,574. The initial sales are in line with the Group's expectations and AGM statement on28 June, when the company announced record export sales representing a 17%increase on last year. Ultimate sales of the book in the UK clearly remain to beseen, however, Bloomsbury is targeting a lower level of returns than in 2005. The English language edition of the book has also generated sales of 398,271 inGermany over the weekend through the group's German subsidiary, Berlin Verlag. Bloomsbury experienced unprecedented on-line interest in the publication of thebook receiving over 9.5million hits on its website www.bloomsbury.com on Friday20 July leading up to the publication. The first 24 hours following release sawhuge demand for the live and on-demand streaming of JK Rowling's reading of thebook with over 372,000 watching the webcast, which is still available onwww.bloomsbury.com. In addition to the good start to the launch of the seventh and last Harry Potterbook, which is benefiting from the significant marketing campaign undertaken byBloomsbury and recent film launch of the fifth title, Harry Potter and the orderof the Phoenix, previous books in the series are also benefiting from the newlaunch. A boxed set edition of all seven Harry Potter titles will be launched on1 October 2007. As stated in the 2006 Chairman's statement, Bloomsbury is looking to develop newrevenue streams including online advertising. This includes a bespokeadvertising campaign on www.bloomsbury.com for the Royal Mail, which promotes their collection of Harry Potter stamps. The website will also be holding a major web event on Monday 30 July that will see JK Rowling hold a live webchat at www.bloomsbury.com from 14.00-15.00 BST. This will provide fans direct access to their favourite author to ask her what they have always wanted to know. Ends Enquiries: Bell PottingerBen Woodford/ Dan de Belder 0207 861 3232 Note to Editors Bloomsbury was founded 21 years ago by its chief executive Nigel Newton, basedon the principle of publishing books of excellence and originality for a widemarket. The company undertook a full stock exchange listing in London in 1994and has since expanded its publishing categories and geographical reach. Today,Bloomsbury has three divisions - adult, children's and reference - which spanthe world's three largest book markets of the USA, Germany and the UK, where theCompany has established offices. Bloomsbury has a strong reputation in developing new authors - Anthony Bourdain,David Guterson, Anne Michaels, J.K.Rowling, Will Self and Ben Schott - and inpublishing established ones, including, Margaret Atwood, John Irving, JayMcInerney, Michael Ondaatje, Donna Tartt, Joanna Trollope and BenjaminZephaniah. The company is well recognized for its ability to identify newauthors, and employing highly professional sales and marketing skills to publishtheir books to maximum effect. With a worldwide library of over 11,500 titles,Bloomsbury also exploits a valuable backlist, publishing regular repeat authors.It also develops major information databases for electronic and printpublication. Bloomsbury's books are increasingly linked to television and film tie-ins,including The English Patient, Snow Falling on Cedars, the first four HarryPotter titles (with the fifth film premiered on 3rd July) and on TV, DavidDimbleby's How We Built Britain, The Only Boy for Me by Gil McNeil, and theforthcoming The Wild Gourmets by Guy Grieve and Thomasina Miers. Bloomsbury'sbestseller, The Kite Runner, will be released as a major film in the UK in 2008. 2007 bestsellers Country Title of 2007 Bestsellers UK Restless by William Boyd A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini How We Built Britain by David Dimbleby Austerity Britain by David Kynaston Jesus of Nazareth by Pope Benedict XVI Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by JK Rowling Physik by Angie Sage 101 Things To Do by Richard Horne Cathy's Book by Weismann, Stewart & Brigg Larklight by Philip Reeve USA Waiting for Daisy by Peggy Orenstein, Medicus by Ruth Downie Princess Academy by Shannon Hale Gone Wild by David McLimans Nasty Bits by Anthony Bourdain Real Food by Nina Plank Highest Tide by Jim Lynch Lemon Tree by Sandy Tolan Austenland by Shannon Hale Kiki Strike by Kirsten Miller Germany Ruhelos by William Boyd Salz des Lebens by Benoite Groult Die Flucht by Tatjana Grafin Donhoff Handy by Ingo Schulze Drachenlaufer by Khaled Hosseini Spate Familie by Zeruya Shalev This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange