Bloomsbury shares up on IBT academic publishing acquisition

Bloomsbury Publishing shares were in the green on Tuesday morning, after it completed the acquisition of the entire issued share capital of London-based academic publisher IBT Tauris & Co.

The London-listed firm said consideration for the acquisition was £5.8m, of which £4.8m was satisfied in cash at completion, with up to £1.0m to be paid post-completion, subject to working capital and other adjustments.

It said IBT had a “world-leading list” in Middle East studies, history, politics and international relations.

Other subject areas in which it had a sizeable presence included visual culture, classics, ancient history and religion.

IBT had a back list of 4,000 titles and published around 200 new titles annually.

About 90% of its sales were in print, so Bloomsbury said there was “significant potential” to grow digital revenues.

IBT titles would be included within Bloomsbury's digital resources, and the business would operate within Bloomsbury's Academic & Professional division.

IBT generated £4.3m of revenue in the year ended 31 December.

Bloomsbury’s board said there were opportunities for profit enhancements following the integration of the business, with the acquisition expected to make a small profit in its first year, before reorganisation and acquisition costs, then be earnings enhancing thereafter.

It would contribute around £3.5m of revenue to Bloomsbury in the year ending 28 February 2019.

“The acquisition of IBT consolidates our significant presence in humanities and social science academic publishing,” said Bloomsbury chief executive Nigel Newton.

“IBT's complementary lists have good growth potential, especially with their inclusion within Bloomsbury's Digital Resources strategy.

“This acquisition represents another key step in our strategy to continue to grow quality recurring revenues through our digital resource offering.”