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15 May 2009 07:00
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Interim Management Statement
Bloomsbury Publishing Plc is issuing its Interim Management Statement in respect of the period from 1st January 2009 to date.
Specialist Publishing Division
The integration of the acquisitions madeΒ atΒ the endΒ 2008Β is almost complete and the businesses are already benefiting from operatingΒ withinΒ the Group's infrastructure. TheΒ 2009Β Wisden Cricketers' Almanack,Β theΒ 146thΒ Edition,Β has just been published and is already selling ahead of expectations.Β Berg, the academic publisher, had a good start to the year and in particular its journals division selling 16Β scholarly journals. The Arden Shakespeare list is now integrated in theΒ USΒ as well as theΒ UKΒ andΒ Featherstone's sales have been good, particularly to local authorities. Overall, the division isΒ performing well.Β
Trade Publishing Division
The publishing programmeΒ for the Trade DivisionΒ isΒ second half weighted with major authors such as John Irving, Margaret Atwood, William Boyd, Heston Blumenthal and Ben SchottΒ beingΒ publishedΒ in the autumn. In theΒ UK,Β The Suspicions of Mr WhicherΒ by Kate SummerscaleΒ wonΒ two awards at the British Book Awards, for Book of the Year andΒ Best Non-Fiction book.Β KamilaΒ Shamsie'sΒ Burnt ShadowsΒ has beenΒ short listed for the Orange Prize for Fiction.Β Although we are experiencing slightly higher than expected returns of books from retailers, overallΒ UKΒ tradingΒ remainsΒ in line withΒ ourΒ expectations.Β InΒ Germany, theΒ bookΒ market has cooledΒ slightlyΒ andΒ someΒ titles are having difficulty achieving their sales targets.Β Berlin Verlag has, however, just releasedΒ A Thousand Splendid SunsΒ by Khaled Hosseini in paperback andΒ it has gone toΒ number oneΒ onΒ the German bestseller list. TheΒ USΒ business, which last year experienced an improvement in profitability,Β is trading in line with budget. Rights deals continue to be a strong source of revenues.
We are continuing to focus on managing our cost base in the light of the current difficult economic environment and are investing carefully in our future publishing programme. We are also seeing an increasing number of company acquisition opportunities.
Financial Position
The risks and opportunities facing the company identified in the Outlook section of our preliminary statement of 31st MarchΒ 2009Β remain unaltered.
The Group's cash position at the end of March 2009 was Β£47.02m which was after the payment in March of royalties due to authors for the six months toΒ 31stΒ December 2008.Β
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For further information, please contact:
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Nigel Newton, Chief Executive, Bloomsbury Publishing Plc 020 7494 6015
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Daniel de Belder / Rosanne Perry, Bell Pottinger 020 7861Β 3232
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