Publisher Bloomsbury enjoys record year as books offer lockdown escapism
Publishing house Bloomsbury has posted record results for the year as Brits reached for the escapism of reading during a series of lockdowns.
“The popularity of reading has been a ray of sunshine in an otherwise very dark year. In an outstanding year for Bloomsbury, we delivered record results,” chief executive, Nigel Newton, said in a statement this morning.
The publisher, which is home to the Harry Potter series, saw revenues rise by 14 per cent to £185.1m in the year ending 28 February, £22.3m more than the year before.
The firm paid out a final dividend of 7.58p per share, as well as posting a special dividend of 9.78p per share. The upbeat update sent shares flying more than 14 per cent.
Bloomsbury today also said it has completed the acquisition of publisher Head of Zeus in an £8.5m deal.
London-based Head of Zeus specialises in genre fiction, narrative non-fiction and children’s books, and boasts authors including Dan Jones and Victoria Hislop.
It is also home to Cixin Liu, whose bestselling science fiction trilogy The Three-Body Problem is being adapted for Netflix by the producers behind Game of Thrones.
Bloomsbury’s full-year profit before tax grew by 22 per cent to £19.2m, as children’s books raked in a revenue of £74.6m. Books for adults also traded well over the pandemic, as revenue grew by 17 per cent to £43.7m.
Consumer revenue surged 22 per cent to £118.3m, while its fantasy titles by Sarah J. Maas swelled by 129 per cent – as adults and children alike immersed themselves in other worlds.
“Our diverse consumer portfolio included backlist titles which really struck a chord with readers throughout the pandemic on themes such as humanity, social inclusion, escapism, fantasy, cookery and baking,” Newton added.
The publisher hired Ian Hudson as managing director of consumer publishing over the turbulent but cash positive 12 months, and Paul Baggaley, as editor-in-chief of adult consumer publishing.
Bloomsbury finished the year with net cash of £54.5m, up 74 per cent on the prior year.
The publisher added that its revenue and profit to be ahead of expectations for the current financial year.