Bloomsbury Regulatory News (BMY)

11 July 2013

Interim Management Statement

Bloomsbury Publishing is issuing its Interim Management Statement in respect of the period 1 March 2013 to date.

The Group is trading in line with management's expectations. In the three months ended 31 May 2013, revenues were up by 19% year on year. Each of our global divisions grew their revenues in the period, with the Adult division standing out with growth of 21% year on year following the early success of And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini, which was released in May. Half of the sales of this title in the period were e-books. Other best-selling titles, which were from the Adult division, were Paul Hollywood's Bread and How to Bake, which led the continuing strong sales of cookery titles, Wisden Cricketers' Almanack and in the US The Cooked Seed by Anchee Min. In India we published our first trade title: The Captainship - First Gen Entrepreneurs edited by Anya Gupta.

Print title revenues increased by 16% and contributed the majority of the year on year increase in total revenues. In addition, there was also a 31% increase in digital title revenues and a 25% increase in rights and services revenues. The two acquisitions we made during the 2012/13 financial year, Fairchild Books and Applied Visual Arts Publishing, together contributed 1% of the 19% year on year increase in Group total revenues in the period.

In March our Academic & Professional division was awarded IPG Independent Publisher of the Year and Frankfurt Book Fair Academic & Professional Publisher of the Year. In May the division won Academic, Educational and Professional Publisher of the Year at the Bookseller Industry Awards. Other prizes in this period include the Gourmand Award for Best Cookbook on Italian Cuisine for Polpo: A Venetian Cookbook (Of Sorts) by Russell Norman. Several of our titles have also been shortlisted for prizes. In particular two of our Children's books were on the Carnegie Medal shortlist: In Darkness by Nick Lake and The Weight of Water by Sarah Crossan. 

During the period, we published our first Bloomsbury Activity Apps in the Children's & Educational division. These were developed with Shoo Fly and included in the Guardian's Top 50 Children's Apps of 2013. Our new look editions for adults of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series are published this month.

Subscriptions to Drama Online, the digital resource for academics, students and performers, are significantly ahead of expectations. The site has been shortlisted for The Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers 2013 Award for Publishing Innovation, which recognises truly innovative approaches to publication. It is one of a growing range of digital services from the Academic & Professional division. In July we are launching Actors and Performers, a professional networking site for the acting community with must-have career information. Authors, casting directors, actors and industry practitioners appear as guest bloggers and contributors to offer advice and insight into the profession.

At 30 June 2013 the Group had net cash of £8.5 million (30 June 2012: £10.0 million).

Sarah Thomson has decided to step down as a non-executive director following the expiry of her term, with effect from the date of this announcement. An external recruitment consultant is conducting the search process and an announcement will be made shortly.

Jeremy Wilson, Chairman, said "Sarah has been an outstanding member of the Board. She has committed herself whole-heartedly to her responsibilities as an Independent Non-Executive Director, bringing to the Board her understanding of the entrepreneurial culture in a company like this and her experience of the transformational demands on an industry currently subject to a technological revolution. As Chairman of the Remuneration Committee, she has steered it down the difficult road of meeting the requirements for reward of an able and committed Executive team at Bloomsbury. She will be greatly missed."

Nigel Newton, Chief Executive, said "Sarah has made a significant contribution to the Board with her specialist digital expertise which has helped to promote the strong digital culture that now exists across Bloomsbury."

Nigel Newton further commented "We have made a good start to the year with all our global divisions growing their revenues in the first quarter. In particular, the strength and depth of our Adult list is shown by growth of 21% generated across a range of areas including cookery and best-selling novelists such as Khaled Hosseini whose new novel And the Mountains Echoed has got off to a flying start. We remain well positioned to deliver on our strategy for growth as the synergies and sales advantages of having delivered a unified publishing group continue to come through."

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