Bloomsbury delivers 'strong' YTD performance

Publishing house Bloomsbury said on Tuesday that it had delivered a "strong performance" over the first four months of its trading year, in line with recently upgraded expectations.

Bloomsbury said it was on track to deliver full-year revenues of £319.3m and pre-tax profits of £37.6m, in line with market expectations, as several consumer titles delivered strong sales performances year-to-date.

The London-listed group also said sales had been given a leg up by growth within its digital department, following its acquisition of Rowman & Littlefield's academic publishing business in May, allowing it to expand its virtual learning offering by doubling Bloomsbury's academic titles to 97,000 and making it one of the largest publishers in the US.

Bloomsbury said: "This strategically important acquisition and our organic growth will accelerate Bloomsbury Digital Resources from 2023/2024's revenue of £27.0m to our increased BDR revenue target for 2027/28 of £41.0m, as Bloomsbury applies its proven ability to create premium digital content for the first time to Rowman & Littlefield's market-leading titles, expanding BDR products.

"The board is confident in the medium and long-term strategy for consumer and investing in academic and professional publishing, with the benefits of digital content."

As of 0935 BST, Bloomsbury shares were down 1.12% at 706.00p.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com