Bloomsbury announces record revenue, chairman succession plans

Bloomsbury Publishing reported exceptional financial results in its preliminary results on Thursday, reaching record high revenue and profit levels, as it also announced its chairman succession plans.

The London-listed company announced a 30% increase in revenue to £342.7m, and a 57% improvement in profit before tax and highlighted items to £48.7m.

Profit before tax surged 63% to £41.5m, while adjusted diluted earnings per share grew 53% to 46.62p.

The firm’s net cash position improved 28% to £65.8m.

In light of the strong results, Bloomsbury declared a final dividend of 10.99p per share, bringing the total dividend for the year to 14.69p, a 25% increase.

The board said its consumer division was a significant contributor to the performance, with revenue soaring 49% to £249.2m and profit before tax and highlighted items more than doubling to £37.8m.

It said the division benefited from substantial sales growth of Sarah J Maas' titles, up 161%, along with strong performances from authors Katherine Rundell, Samantha Shannon, and the enduring popularity of the Harry Potter series.

In contrast, the non-consumer division faced challenges, with revenue declining to £93.4m from £97.4m, and profit before tax and highlighted items falling to £9.9m from £13.1m.

The academic and professional segment saw a decrease in revenue to £70.5m and profit to £9.3m.

However, Bloomsbury Digital Resources (BDR) achieved a 2% increase in revenue to £26.6m, as the company reiterated its target for BDR to achieve around £37m in turnover with 40% organic revenue growth by the 2028 financial year.

“We had an outstanding year at Bloomsbury with exceptional trading leading to the highest revenue and profit in Bloomsbury's 37-year history,” said chief executive officer Nigel Newton.

“This dramatic increase arises from our entrepreneurial diversification strategy which has forged a portfolio of portfolios combining consumer and academic publishing across formats, territories and subject areas, a resilient model delivering long-term success.

“Trading for 2025 is expected to be slightly ahead of current consensus expectations.”

Newton said expectations for the 2025 financial year reflected the “exceptional performance” in 2024, and that the company was not expecting to publish a new Sarah J Maas title in the year.

“Last week, we won five awards at the British Book Awards including Children's Publisher of the Year.

“Today we launch Bloomsbury 2030, setting out our vision for the Company over the next six years.”

Nigel Newton said Bloomsbury had a clear strategy, with its strong cash generation and balance sheet enabling it to continue investing in innovative content and authors, as well as capitalising on emerging opportunities.

“As a result of these strengths, the genius of our authors and the skill of our people worldwide at our unique combination of literary and scholarly publishing, we remain confident in Bloomsbury's ability to deliver continued success.”

In a separate announcement, Bloomsbury also revealed a change in its leadership, with Sir Richard Lambert to retire as chairman and step down as a director at the end of its annual general meeting on 16 July.

John Bason, currently an independent non-executive director, would succeed him as chairman, subject to re-election as a director.

“After seven exciting years, this is a good moment for change,” said Sir Richard Lambert.

“I am very happy that the board has proposed our colleague John Bason to succeed me as chairman.

“John is someone with an immense experience of business, which he combines with the essential Bloomsbury qualities of independence, integrity and ambition.”

Bason, who joined the Bloomsbury board in April 2022 and became chair of the remuneration committee in July of that year, would bring extensive experience from his 40-year career in finance and international business, including his role as finance director at Associated British Foods until April 2023.

“I am honoured to be asked to take over as chairman of this vibrant and entrepreneurial publisher and will endeavour to continue that support as Bloomsbury looks ahead to achieve its ambitions for further growth,” said incoming chairman John Bason.

At 1140 BST, shares in Bloomsbury Publishing were down 6.67% at 560p.

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.