BLOOMSBURY PUBLISHING PLC

Earnings Release • Jul 21, 2021

National Storage Mechanism | Additional information

RNS Number : 8938F

Bloomsbury Publishing PLC

21 July 2021

21 July 2021

BLOOMSBURY PUBLISHING PLC

("Bloomsbury" or "the Company")

AGM Trading Update

Year-on-year revenue growth of 28%

Bloomsbury announces its trading update for the four months ended 30 June 2021, ahead of the Company's Annual General Meeting ("AGM") at 12.00pm today.

Bloomsbury experienced strong trading for the first four months of its financial year, with year-on-year sales growth of 28%, maintaining momentum from the prior year's outstanding performance.

Trading

Revenue by division		4 months to June 2021	4 months to June 2020	Growth
		£'000	£'000
	Consumer
	Children's Trade	24,828	18,776	32%
	Adult Trade	14,916	12,705	17%
	Total Consumer	39,744	31,481	26%
	Non-Consumer
	Academic and Professional	15,765	11,824	35%
	Special Interest	7,608	6,189	23%
	Total Non-Consumer	23,373	18,013	31%
	Total	63,117	49,494	28%

Consumer division revenues were 26% ahead of last year, with strong print and e-book sales. Adult revenues grew by 17% and Children's revenues by 32%. Bestsellers included Tom Kerridge's Outdoor Cooking, the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling, Sarah J. Maas' A Court of Silver Flames and Lisa Taddeo's Animal. UK Consumer print sales growth was ahead of the market.*

Non-Consumer division revenue was 31% higher than last year, with Academic and Professional growth of 35%, driven by continued strong demand for Bloomsbury Digital Resources, which was 41% ahead of last year. Special Interest revenue increased by 23%.

In June, our revenue benefitted from the two most recent strategic acquisitions: Head of Zeus delivered £859k, within Consumer Adult, and Red Globe Press delivered £478k, within Non-Consumer Academic and Professional.

Outlook

Bloomsbury is pleased with the performance of our business for the first four months of the year and the strong June sales of its two new acquisitions, Red Globe Press and Head of Zeus. We are actively targeting further acquisition opportunities in line with our long-term growth strategy. The Board expects the Group's performance for the year ending 28 February 2022 to be in line with market expectations.**

Summer weather is driving the success of two UK frontlist titles: Tom Kerridge's Outdoor Cooking as barbeques take off and Psycho by the Sea by Lynne Truss as the perfect holiday read.

The results for the six months ending 31 August 2021 will be announced on 27 October 2021.

*Nielsen reported print growth for the period 14 March 2021 to 3 July 2021, compared to 2019, of 8%. There was no 2020 data due to the first UK lockdown."

** The Board considers current consensus market expectation for the year ending 28 February 2022 to be revenue of £193.4 million and profit before taxation and highlighted items of £19.3 million.

For further information, please contact:

Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Nigel Newton, Chief Executive Penny Scott-Bayfield, Group Finance Director	nigel.newton@bloomsbury.com penny.scott-bayfield@bloomsbury.com
Hudson Sandler	+44 (0) 20 7796 4133
Dan de Belder / Rebekah Chapman	bloomsbury@hudsonsandler.com

The information in this announcement has not been audited or otherwise independently verified and no representation or warranty, express or implied, is made as to, and no reliance should be placed on, the fairness, accuracy, completeness or correctness of the information or opinions contained herein. None of the Company or any of its affiliates, advisors or representatives shall have any liability whatsoever (in negligence or otherwise) for any loss whatsoever arising from any use of this announcement, or its contents, or otherwise arising in connection with this announcement.

This announcement does not constitute or form part of any offer or invitation to sell, or any solicitation of any offer to purchase any shares in the Company, nor shall it or any part of it or the fact of its distribution form the basis of, or be relied on in connection with, any contract or commitment or investment decisions relating thereto, nor does it constitute a recommendation regarding the shares of the Company.

Certain statements, statistics and projections in this announcement are or may be forward looking. By their nature, forward‑looking statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties or assumptions that may or may not occur and actual results or events may differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Accordingly, no assurance can be given that any particular expectation will be met and reliance should not be placed on any forward-looking statement. Accordingly, forward-looking statements contained in this announcement regarding past trends or activities should not be taken as representation that such trends or activities will continue in the future. You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which are based on the knowledge and information available only at the date of this announcement's preparation.

The Company does not undertake any obligation to update or keep current the information contained in this announcement, including any forward‑looking statements, or to correct any inaccuracies which may become apparent and any opinions expressed in it are subject to change without notice.

References in this announcement to other reports or materials, such as a website address, have been provided to direct the reader to other sources of information on Bloomsbury Publishing Plc which may be of interest. Neither the content of Bloomsbury's website nor any website accessible by hyperlinks from Bloomsbury's website nor any additional materials contained or accessible thereon, are incorporated in, or form part of, this announcement.

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