BLOOMSBURY PUBLISHING PLC  

("Bloomsbury" or "the Company")

Audited Preliminary Results for the year ended 28 February 2025

Resilient results ahead of recently upgraded expectations; more dividend growth; drive into Asian academic market; success of portfolio of portfolios strategy

Bloomsbury Publishing Plc (LSE: BMY), the leading independent publisher, today announces audited results for the year ended 28 February 2025.

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

"Bloomsbury is pleased to report revenue up £18m to £361m, up 5%, with profit¹ of £42m. We are making significant progress in executing our Bloomsbury 2030 vision focused on our growth, portfolio and people. In 2024/25 Bloomsbury acquired Rowman & Littlefield, strengthening our Academic portfolio, entered the FTSE 250 in August 2024, earned the Great Place To Work Certification^TM and became the 39^th largest publisher in the world².

The success in the Consumer Division was based across our portfolio. In the Non-Consumer Division growth has been driven by the acquisition of Rowman & Littlefield, where integration is progressing well. Bloomsbury Digital Resources sales increased 2% to £27m and our ambitious target remains at £41m revenue in 2027/28.

In recognition of the achievements of this financial year and our confidence that the Company is well positioned for further development, the Board recommends a final dividend of 11.54 pence which contributes to a full year dividend of 15.43 pence per share, an increase of 5% year on year.

In 2025, we will be expanding our business in Asia by opening an office in Singapore to further capitalise on the growing student population³ in the region, building on the success of our established offices in India and Australia. Bloomsbury will be well placed geographically and structurally to benefit from student growth alongside the continued shift to digital learning.

Bloomsbury was voted Publisher of the Year 2025 at the British Book Awards and also won Publicity Campaign of the Year for Gillian Anderson's Want.

We are progressing opportunities to monetise academic content through AI deals in our authors' best interests.

Trading for 2025/26 is expected to be broadly in line with current consensus expectation⁴ in constant currency.  

Bloomsbury's diversification strategy has forged a portfolio of portfolios combining consumer and academic publishing, a resilient model delivering long-term success."

Operational Highlights

Consumer Division

Non-Consumer Division

Financial Highlights

Notes

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Disclaimer

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.

Chief Executive's statement

Overview

In May 2024, we announced the next stage in our Bloomsbury 2030 vision focused on our growth, our portfolio and our people. In 2024/25 Bloomsbury achieved revenue growth of 5% to £361.0m (2023/24: £342.7m), acquired Rowman & Littlefield, strengthening our Academic portfolio, entered the FTSE 250, and earned the Great Place To Work Certification^TM.

The resilience of demand for Bloomsbury titles and the excellent sales of our digital products demonstrate the strength of our long-term growth strategy, the publishing judgement of our editors, the reach of our sales and marketing and value of our content.

Success in the Consumer Division was from across our portfolio. Consumer revenue growth was 3%, a stellar performance considering a comparative of 49% growth in 2023/24. We have expanded our Consumer portfolio, which includes fantasy, romantasy, cosy crime, non-fiction lifestyle and cookery. We have bestselling and award-winning fiction lists for adults and children.

The acquisition of Rowman & Littlefield in May 2024, where integration is progressing well, drove growth in the Non-Consumer Division. Bloomsbury Digital Resources (BDR) grew 2% to £27.0m for the full year despite well-documented budgetary pressures, as highlighted at the interim results, in our core UK and US academic markets. We remain confident in the long-term trends. Our ambitious BDR target remains at c.£41m revenue in 2027/28.

Our geographical diversification has taken international revenues to 78% of total revenue.  Our diversification across formats has ensured the expansion of publishing through digital channels. Our Audio revenue grew 57% in part driven by our new commercial relationship with Spotify and the Audio team continues its strong run of awards with the IPG Zebralution Audio Award for the audio production of Want and was shortlisted in the British Book Awards.

We are progressing with key infrastructure changes as part of the Bloomsbury 2030 vision to support growth and profitability. We have made good progress with announced projects having changed to Hachette UK Distribution in April 2025, started to implement our new global royalty system and strengthened our sales infrastructure with the creation of the US key account sales team replacing a third-party commission sales arrangement.

In 2025 we will be expanding our business in Asia by opening an office in Singapore to further capitalise on the growth in the student population in the region, building on the success of our established offices in India and Australia. By 2040 it is estimated that there could be 600m higher education students with over 60% in Asia. Bloomsbury will be well placed geographically and structurally to benefit from student growth alongside the continued shift to digital learning.

We have hired a Head of AI Innovation to lead the development and execution of our AI Strategy, driving innovation and oversight of AI initiatives across Bloomsbury. We are progressing opportunities to monetise academic content through AI deals in our authors' best interests.

We have purposefully pursued a strategy of diversification across consumer and academic publishing and within those have diversified across formats and territories. This strategy has created a portfolio of portfolios - a model that provides resilient growth and cash generation.

We continue to focus on capital allocation to accelerate the flywheel of Bloomsbury:

(1)  Fortifying our existing business by investing in our Company, authors and employees;

(2) Enhancing the diversification of our business to drive future profitability, organically and through acquisitions; and

(3)  Retaining a strong balance sheet while rewarding Shareholders through our dividend.

Group Financials

Bloomsbury achieved revenue growth of 5% to £361.0m (2023/24: £342.7m). Group profit before taxation and highlighted items was £42.1m (2023/24: £48.8m). Profit before taxation was £32.5m (2023/24: £41.5m). Highlighted items of £9.6m (2023/24: £7.3m) consist of the amortisation of acquired intangible assets of £8.4m (2023/24: £4.9m), one-off legal and other professional fees relating to acquisitions, integration and restructuring costs of £1.2m (2023/24: £2.4m). The effective rate of tax for the year was 21.9% (2023/24: 22.2%). The adjusted effective rate of tax, excluding highlighted items, was 18.8% (2023/24: 21.0%).

Diluted earnings per share, excluding highlighted items, were 41.45 pence (2023/24: 46.62 pence).  Including highlighted items, profit before tax was £32.5m (2023/24: £41.5m) and diluted earnings per share 30.71 pence (2023/24: 39.11 pence). The Board recommends a 5% increase in our final dividend to 11.54 pence per share, taking our full year dividend to 15.43 pence per share, an increase of 5% year on year.

Consumer Division

The Consumer Division, which consists of Adult, Young Adult and Children's publishing, generated revenue growth of 3% to £256.0m (2023/24: £249.2m). The success was broadly based across our portfolio. Profit before taxation and highlighted items was £31.4m (2023/24: £37.8m). The Consumer profit margin of 12% returned to a normalised level, in line with expectations, and following an exceptional performance in 2023/24 which saw high operational gearing on exceptional sales. Profit before taxation was £31.0m (2023/24: £37.4m).

Last week, Bloomsbury was voted Publisher of the Year 2025 at the British Book Awards and also won the British Book Awards Publicity Campaign of the Year for Gillian Anderson's Want.

Our publishing list for 2025/26 is strong and includes:

Non-Consumer Division

Revenue for the Non-Consumer Division, which consists of Academic & Professional, including BDR, and Special Interest, grew by 12% to £105.0m (2023/24: £93.5m). Profit before taxation and highlighted items for the Non-Consumer Division grew by 15% to £11.4m (2023/24: £9.8m). Profit before taxation was £3.4m (2023/24: £5.3m).

Non-Consumer Division: Academic & Professional

Academic & Professional revenue increased by 18% to £83.3m (2023/24: £70.5m). Rowman & Littlefield contributed £19.8m revenue in the nine months since acquisition driving overall growth; organic revenue reduced by 10%. Profit before taxation and highlighted items increased to £12.5m (2023/24: £9.3m) with a margin of 15%. Profit before taxation was £4.8m (2023/24: £4.9m).

The Academic & Professional market is experiencing budget pressures in the UK and the US, against a positive outlook of student numbers being projected to grow worldwide. Budgetary pressure in UK higher education institutions has been driven by a decrease in international students and an increase in employer National Insurance Contributions. In the US, funding changes and lower enrolment are contributing to budgetary pressure for higher education institutions. The shift from print to digital has continued to accelerate, resulting in lower sales of print academic books.

We built Bloomsbury Digital Resources precisely to be ahead of this digital trend. BDR revenue has grown from £6.4m in 2018/19 to £27.0m in 2024/25. We are adapting to the market with the broadening and deepening of our offering through the integration of Rowman & Littlefield's market leading titles and the expansion of subject areas, particularly business and psychology.

BDR revenues were £27.0m with growth of 2% (2023/24: 2%, 2022/23: 41%). Our BDR growth strategy continues to build high-margin, high-quality, repeatable digital revenue from our market-leading Academic & Professional IP. The strategically important acquisition of Rowman & Littlefield will accelerate BDR's growth, as Bloomsbury applies its proven ability to create digital revenues to Rowman & Littlefield's market-leading titles, expanding BDR products and driving innovation. Our ambitious BDR target remains at c.£41m of revenue in 2027/28.

Non-Consumer Division: Special Interest

Special Interest revenue was £21.7m (2023/24: £23.0m) and loss before taxation and highlighted items was £1.1m (2023/24: profit £0.5m).

Cash and Financing

Bloomsbury's cash generation was strong with net cash at the year-end of £17.0m (2024: £65.8m) and cash conversion of 156% (2023/24: 110%). Net cash is lower following the acquisition of Rowman & Littlefield for £64.8m in May 2024.

The Group has an unsecured term loan with Lloyds Bank Plc, used for the acquisition of Rowman & Littlefield alongside cash. This comprises a committed term loan of $37.5m and runs for three years to May 2027. The strong cash generation has enabled us to pay down $7.5m of the debt associated with the acquisition of Rowman & Littlefield ahead of schedule with the remaining balance $30.0m.

The Group also has an unsecured revolving credit facility with Lloyds Bank Plc. The facility comprises a committed revolving credit facility of £20m and an uncommitted incremental term loan facility of up to £20m. The agreement runs to November 2027. As at 28 February 2025, the facility remains fully undrawn (2024: fully undrawn). 

The facilities are subject to two covenants, being a maximum net debt to EBITDA ratio of 2.5x and a minimum interest cover covenant of 4x.

Acquisitions

The acquisition of Rowman & Littlefield's academic publishing assets for £64.8m/$82.5m on 28 May 2024 has significantly accelerated and strengthened Bloomsbury's academic publishing in North America and will benefit BDR in particular.

Bloomsbury has a successful track record in strategic acquisitions, with 34 completed. We will assess further acquisition opportunities in line with our long-term growth strategy, particularly within Academic.

Dividend

Bloomsbury has a progressive dividend policy aiming to keep dividend earnings cover in excess of two times, supported by strong cash cover. The Board is recommending a final dividend of 11.54 pence per share, totalling £9.4m. Together with the interim dividend, this makes a total dividend for 2024/25 of 15.43 pence per share, a 5% increase on the 14.69 pence dividend for 2023/24 and a 31% increase versus 2022/23.

Subject to Shareholder approval at our AGM on 16 July 2025, the final dividend will be paid on 22 August 2025 to Shareholders on the register on the record date of 25 July 2025.

Including the proposed 2024/25 final dividend, over the past ten years, the dividend per share has increased at a compound annual growth rate of 9.7%.

Board Changes

Penny Scott-Bayfield was appointed Group Finance Director of Bloomsbury seven years ago. Penny has informed the Board of her intention to step down from her role at Bloomsbury to pursue a portfolio career. Penny will remain at Bloomsbury to ensure a smooth process for the recruitment of her successor to ensure an orderly handover. The search for Penny's successor has already commenced.

John Bason, Bloomsbury's Chairman, said, "At this juncture, on behalf of all of our colleagues, Nigel Newton and I would like to recognise her critical contribution to the significant development of Bloomsbury over the last seven years and to thank her enormously."

Bloomsbury was pleased to announce the appointment of Dame Heather Rabbatts to its Board as a Non-Executive Director from 14 April 2025 and as a member of the Audit, Remuneration and Nomination Committees. She is the Chair of M&C Saatchi Group PLC, Senior Independent Director at Associated British Foods plc, and was formerly a Non-Executive Director at Kier Group plc.

Current Trading and Outlook

We remain cognisant of the uncertain macroeconomic backdrop, however, books remain exempt from US tariffs. Trading for 2025/26 is expected to be broadly in line with the current consensus expectation¹ in constant currency.

The Board is confident in the resilience created through the portfolio of portfolios strategy. We continue to execute our Bloomsbury 2030 vision focused on our growth, portfolio and people. Our authors, customers, consistent performance, and the scale and resilience of our business continue to underpin the confidence we have in the future.

Note

1.    The Board considers consensus market expectation (before this publication) for the year ending 28 February 2026 to be revenue of £349.2m and profit before taxation and highlighted items of £45.1m.

Audited Consolidated Income Statement

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 28 FEBRUARY 2025

Audited Consolidated Statement of Comprehensive Income

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 28 FEBRUARY 2025

Items in the statement above are disclosed net of tax.

Audited Consolidated Statement of Financial Position

AS AT 28 FEBRUARY 2025                                                                                   

Audited Consolidated Statement of Changes in Equity

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 28 FEBRUARY 2025

Audited Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 28 FEBRUARY 2025

NOTES

1.  Accounting policies

a)    Basis of Preparation

The financial information set out above does not constitute the Company's statutory accounts for the years ended 28 February 2025 or 29 February 2024 but is derived from those accounts. Statutory accounts for 2024 have been delivered to the registrar of companies, and those for 2025 will be delivered in due course. The auditor has reported on those accounts; their reports were (i) unqualified, (ii) did not include a reference to any matters to which the auditor drew attention by way of emphasis without qualifying their report and (iii) did not contain a statement under section 498 (2) or (3) of the Companies Act 2006.

The Group financial statements were prepared in accordance with UK-adopted international accounting standards and the requirements of the Companies Act 2006.  Except as described below, the accounting policies applied in the year ended 28 February 2025 are consistent with those applied in the financial statements for year ended 29 February 2024 with the exception of a number of new accounting standards and amendments which have not had a material impact on the Group's results.

b)  Going concern

The Directors have a reasonable expectation that the Group has adequate resources to continue in operational existence at least 12 months from the date of this preliminary announcement, being the period of the detailed going concern assessment reviewed by the Board, and therefore continue to adopt the going concern basis of accounting in preparing the condensed consolidated financial statements. 

The Board has modelled a severe but plausible downside scenario. This assumes:

·     print revenues are reduced by 20% during 2025/2026, with recovery during 2026/2027;

·     digital revenues are reduced by 20% during 2025/2026, with recovery during 2026/2027;

·     print costs are increased by 2% from 2025/2026 and staff costs are increased by 2% from 2026/2027;

·     downside assumptions about extended debtor days during 2025/2026, with recovery during 2026/2027; and

·     cash preservation measures implemented and variable costs reduced.

At 28 February 2025, the Group had available liquidity of £60.6m, comprising central cash balances and its undrawn £20.0m Revolving Credit Facility ("RCF"). The RCF agreement is to November 2027. Under the severe but plausible downside scenario, the Group would maintain sufficient liquidity headroom even before modelling the mitigating effect of actions that management would take in the event that these downside risks were to crystallise.

As at 28 February 2025, the facility remains fully undrawn (2024: fully undrawn) with £20.0m of undrawn committed borrowing facilities (2024: £20.0m) available.  The facility comprises a committed revolving credit facility of £20m, and an uncommitted incremental term loan facility of up to £20m.

Additionally, The Group has a term loan facility with a balance of $30m (£23.6m) as at 28 February 2025.  The loan is repayable at the Group's discretion, with no fixed payment schedule.  The facility runs for 3 years until May 2027.

The facilities are subject to two covenants, being a maximum net debt to EBITDA ratio of 2.5x and a minimum interest cover covenant of 4x.

2.  Revenue and segmental analysis

The Group is comprised of two worldwide publishing divisions: Consumer and Non-Consumer, reflecting the core customers for our different operations. Previously, the Consumer division was further split out into two operating segments: Children's Trade and Adult Trade.  During the year the Children's Trade and Adult Trade operating results have been combined into a single Consumer category for reporting regularly reviewed by the Chief Operating Decision Maker.  This change reflects how the division is managed with the strategic focus on the consumer market as a whole.  Comparative information for prior periods has been restated to reflect this change.  Non-Consumer continues to be split between two operating segments: Academic & Professional and Special Interest. 

Each reportable segment represents a cash-generating unit for the purpose of impairment testing. We have allocated goodwill between reportable segments.  These divisions are the basis on which the Group primarily reports its segment information. Segments derive their revenue from book publishing, sale of publishing and distribution rights, management and other publishing services.

The analysis by segment is shown below: