BLOOMSBURY PUBLISHING PLC

("Bloomsbury" or "the Company")

Audited Preliminary Results for the year ended 29 February 2024

Success of portfolio of portfolios strategy leads to exceptional sales up 30% and profits up 57% with full year dividend up 25%

Revenue and profit for 2024/25 upgraded

Bloomsbury Publishing Plc (LSE: BMY), the leading independent publisher, today announces audited results for the year ended 29 February 2024.

Commenting on the results, Nigel Newton, Chief Executive, said:

"We had an outstanding year at Bloomsbury with exceptional trading leading to the highest revenue and profit in Bloomsbury's 37 year history. Our sales are up £79m, an increase of 30% from £264m to £343m. Profit is up £18m, an increase of 57% from £31m to £49m. 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.

Consumer revenue growth was 49%. Recent success has been principally driven by the increasing demand for fantasy fiction. Sarah J. Maas is a publishing phenomenon and we are very fortunate to have signed her up with her first book 14 years ago. Her books have captivated a huge audience, supported by major Bloomsbury promotional campaigns, driving strong word of mouth recommendation, particularly through social media channels.

Bloomsbury Digital Resources increased sales to £27m and remains on course to achieve its target of c.£37m turnover in 2027/28 though Non-Consumer sales were slightly down by 4% to £93.4 million. Bloomsbury is well placed, despite the end of US government COVID relief funding, to capitalise on the continued structural shift to digital learning and is confident in the long-term growth opportunities of the Non-Consumer division given the significant growth projections for higher education. The World Bank estimates that globally there will be 380 million higher education students by 2030, up from 220 million students in 2021, which itself more than doubled the enrolment figures from 2000.

In recognition of this performance and in accordance with our progressive dividend policy, the Board recommends a final dividend of 10.99 pence per share, taking our full year dividend to 14.69 pence per share, an increase of 25% year on year.

Trading for 2024/25 is expected to be slightly ahead of current consensus expectation1. Expectations for 2024/25 reflect the exceptional performance in 2023/24, and that we are not expecting to publish a new Sarah J. Maas title in the year ending 28 February 2025. 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.

Bloomsbury has a clear strategy. Our strong cash generation and balance sheet enables us 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."

Note

The Board considers consensus market expectation (before this publication) for the year ending 28 February 2025 to be revenue of £283.6m and profit before taxation and highlighted items of £35.4m.

For further information, please contact:

Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

Tamsin Garrity, Head of Investor Relations

tamsin.garrity@bloomsbury.com

Hudson Sandler

+44 (0) 20 7796 4133

Dan de Belder / Hattie Dreyfus / Emily Brooker

bloomsbury@hudsonsandler.com

Financial Highlights

2023/24

2022/23

2021/22

'24 vs '23

'24 vs '22

Revenue

£342.7m

£264.1m

£230.1m

30%

49%

Profit before taxation and highlighted items1

£48.7m

£31.1m

£26.7m

57%

82%

Profit before taxation

£41.5m

£25.4m

£22.2m

63%

87%

Adjusted diluted earnings per share

46.62p

30.56p

25.94p

53%

80%

Diluted earnings per share

39.11p

24.54p

20.33p

59%

92%

Net cash

£65.8m

£51.5m

£41.2m

28%

59%

Final dividend per share

10.99p

10.34p

9.40p

6%

17%

Total dividend per share

14.69p

11.75p

10.74p

25%

37%

Operational Highlights

Consumer Division

Consumer revenue growth of 49% to £249.2m (2022/23: £166.7m)

Consumer profit before taxation and highlighted items1 up 108% to £37.8m (2022/23: £18.1m)

Commercial and literary success across the portfolio with exceptional performance from sales of Sarah J. Maas' titles, up 161%, Katherine Rundell, Samantha Shannon and continued strong sales of Harry Potter, 26 years since first publication

Non-Consumer Division

Non-Consumer revenue was £93.4m (2022/23: £97.4m)

Non-Consumer profit before taxation and highlighted items1 was £9.9m (2022/23: £13.1m)

Academic & Professional revenue was £70.5m (2022/23: £75.7m) and profit before taxation and highlighted items1 was £9.3m (2022/23: £12.4m)

Bloomsbury Digital Resources ("BDR") revenue growth of 2% to £26.6m (2022/23: £26.2m)

Reiterate BDR target to achieve c.£37m of turnover with 40% organic revenue growth over five years to 2027/28.

Eloise Fleet

Client Executive

25 Charterhouse Square, London EC1M 6AE

+44 20 7796 4133 | www.hudsonsandler.com

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(C) 2024 M2 COMMUNICATIONS, source M2 PressWIRE