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Bloomsbury Publishing has reported record annual sales and profits, boosted by readers opting for books as an affordable option amid rising living costs, according to its chief. way of entertainment.
The group, which publishes JK Rowling’s Harry Potter books, continues to see strong demand for the fantasy series, posting a 16 per cent rise in pre-tax profit in the year to February 28, with 3110 “key items” million pounds. Sales rose 15 percent to £264.1 million.
Chief executive Nigel Newton said: “In challenging economic times, readers are turning to affordable books as they cut back on more expensive pastimes.”
Shares rose 0.5% in early trade, with Bloomsbury saying its upgrade Looking forward to March. The group proposed a 10% increase in the final dividend.
Sales were boosted by the success of fantasy author Sarah J Maas’ series. Bloomsbury, which signed the American author to a contract for seven new books, owed its success in part to the BookTok social media trend on TikTok, whose sales jumped 51% that year.
So far, the company has published all 15 of Maas’ works, including House of Sky and Breathwhich was published last February, has become a bestseller.
bloomsbury It said that the current market consensus is that its pre-tax profit for the current financial year ending in 2024 will be 32.2 million pounds, on revenue of 272.1 million pounds.
International revenue now accounts for 73% of total revenue, the highest percentage ever, with the U.S. accounting for almost half.
The company’s digital academic resources business, which provides e-books to colleges, grew 41% due to growing demand for online educational resources.
“These results demonstrate the strength of our strategy of publishing for both consumer and academic markets, which is unusual in our industry, and grow digital revenues while expanding globally,” Newton added.
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