Trading Statement

RNS Number : 3815Z

Bloomsbury Publishing PLC

13 January 2011

 



13 January 2011

Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

("Bloomsbury" or "the Group")

Trading Statement

Bloomsbury Publishing today announces its trading update for the twelve month period ending 31 December 2010 and reports that 2010 trading was in line with management's expectations.

2010 book sales were excellent, driven by revenues from a broad range of titles across our UK, US and German businesses. Sales in the final quarter proved resilient despite the adverse weather conditions. In the UK, The Man Booker Prize winner, The Finkler Question by Howard Jacobson, Operation Mincemeat by Ben Macintyre, the film tie-in edition of Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert and The Flavour Thesaurus by Niki Segnit were amongst our top selling new titles. Books published in prior years continued to be in demand, led by River Cottage Everyday by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and the seven Harry Potter books, which sold well on the back of the film Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 and the release of the series with new jacket designs.  

In the US, we also published The Finkler Question and this continued to be one of our top sellers in the run-up to Christmas and reached the New York Times bestseller list. In addition, Entice by Carrie Jones and Deadly Spin by Wendell Potter were strong sellers.  In Germany, the second half of the year had a stronger publishing programme. Eat, Pray, Love performed well and Berthold Beitz: Die Biographie by Joachim Käppner was also a bestseller.

E-book revenues gathered momentum in 2010 and in some cases made up a sizable percentage of sales by value of some of our bestsellers. With the increase in the number of e-readers and other platforms sold into the market, we expect e-book revenue growth to continue. 

We have received a positive response to database projects and management contract proposals and are in discussion with third parties about these. Our strategic investment in academic and professional publishing is progressing well with Public Library Online, Bloomsbury Academic, Methuen Drama, the Arden Shakespeare and the online Berg Fashion Library, which with the The Oxford University Press Encyclopedia of World Dress and Fashion, was awarded the 2011 Dartmouth Medal for its extensive and outstanding multidisciplinary coverage of dress, fashion and its impact on society.  Bloomsbury Qatar Foundation Journals was launched by Qatar Foundation in November where we are supplying publishing services. In other specialist areas A&C Black showed solid sales particularly with Alexander McQueen: Genius of a Generation.

Period-end cash for the Group is likely to be in the region of £34.2m.

The results for the twelve month period ended 31st December 2010 will be announced on 28^th February 2011. As a reminder the Company's year-end is moving to the end of February and, accordingly, we shall also announce results for the fourteen month period to 28 February 2011 in May.

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Enquiries:

Pelham Bell Pottinger - Dan de Belder / Rosanne Perry 020 7861 3232

 

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