Bloomsbury Publishing PLC on Thursday said trading in its recently-ended financial year topped consensus, helped by a strong second half.
Shares in the company rose 6.2% to 616.02 pence each, among the best FTSE 250 performers in London on Thursday morning.
The publisher hailed broad-based ‘success’ in its consumer-focused division. In the non-consumer arm, the buy of Rowman & Littlefield academic publishing offering. The deal was a ‘game-changer for Bloomsbury’, Chief Executive Nigel Newton said back in May. It bought the unit for up to $83 million.
‘This strong performance and the associated cash generation has enabled us to pay down $7.5m of the $37 million debt associated with the acquisition of Rowman & Littlefield ahead of schedule,’ Bloomsbury added on Thursday.
‘The company’s robust performance is powerfully driven by determined execution of the 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.’
For the year ended February 28, Bloomsbury said trading was ‘ahead of consensus expectations’.
It puts consensus at £333.4 million for revenue and £39.6 million for pretax profit before ‘highlighted items’. In financial 2024, it reported revenue of £342.7 million and pretax profit before highlighted items of £48.7 million.
It announces results on May 22.
Bloomsbury said it has added Heather Rabbatts to its board as a non-executive director from April 14. She is the senior independent director at Primark owner Associated British Foods PLC.
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