TRADING UPDATE - 14 February 2024

Revenue and profit significantly ahead of upgraded expectations. New Bloomsbury US President appointed.

Bloomsbury Publishing Plc (LSE: BMY), the leading independent publisher, is pleased to announce the following update on trading.

Full year outlook

Ø Revenue and profit before taxation and highlighted items are now expected to be significantly ahead of upgraded market expectations for the year ending 29 February 2024.

Ø The Board considers that the consensus market expectation for the year ending 29 February 2024 is currently revenue of £291.4 million and profit before taxation and highlighted items of £37.2 million.

Highlights

Ø The Consumer division has delivered exceptional growth driven in part by the publication on 30th January of Sarah J. Maas novel House of Flame and Shadow which reached Number 1 in the US, UK, Australia and many markets around the world.

Ø The publication of her latest novel has also driven demand for her previous 15 books which Bloomsbury has published throughout the world in the English language. Bloomsbury has a further 6 titles under contract with Sarah J. Maas.

Ø Fantasy has become extremely popular around the world. According to Nielsen Bookscan, in the UK the Fantasy and Sci-Fi genre has grown by 54% in the last five years.  Bloomsbury publishes Sarah J. Maas and also fantasy bestselling author Samantha Shannon, Women's Prize winner Susanna Clarke, the iconic Alan Moore, and Cixin Liu, whose Three Body Problem trilogy film adaptation is being released with huge fanfare by Netflix on March 21^st, produced by Game of Thrones' David Benioff and D.B. Weiss.

Ø Bloomsbury is investing further in fantasy writing on the newly launched Bloomsbury General list.

Ø Other important recent bestsellers are:

·      Ghosts, the bestselling companion book to the BBC smash hit television series,

·      Poppy Cooks: The Actually Delicious Air Fryer Cookbook by Poppy O'Toole, 

·      Pub Kitchen by Tom Kerridge, 

·      The House of Doors by Tan Twan Eng in the US,

·      The Harry Potter Wizarding Almanac, the official companion to J.K. Rowling's books, 

·      We're Going on a Sleigh Ride by Martha Mumford and Cherie Zamazing and

·      Impossible Creatures by Katherine Rundell; a Number 1 bestseller in the UK market and chosen as The Waterstones Book of the Year 2023.

Ø Bloomsbury has appointed Sabrina McCarthy President of Bloomsbury US, starting at the beginning of April. She will also serve on Bloomsbury's global Executive Committee. McCarthy brings experience of general and academic publishing, joining from Ingram Publisher Services where she is Vice President and General Manager. Over the last eight years, she has overseen six distribution brands as well as the domestic, international print and digital sales teams, and the business operations team.

Nigel Newton, Chief Executive, commented: "I am overjoyed to report an exceptionally strong period of trading, 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 13 years ago.  Her books have a huge audience which continues to grow backed by major Bloomsbury promotional campaigns, driving strong word of mouth recommendation, particularly through TikTok and Instagram channels."

The Company will provide further details for the year ended 29 February 2024 with its preliminary results announcement on 23 May 2024.

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The information contained within this announcement is deemed by the Group to constitute inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulations (EU) No. 596/2014 ("MAR"). Upon the publication of this announcement via a Regulatory Information Service ("RIS"), this inside information is now considered to be in the public domain.

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.