Copies of young adult bestseller Paper Towns and new Harry Potter boxsets flew off the bookshelves at Bloomsbury Publishing (BMY) in the six months to end-August, propelling adjusted operating profits up 11 per cent to £1.9m. But the storied publisher also benefited from its December takeover of Osprey, a specialist in military and national history books. Exclude its contribution and sales slid 11 per cent in the group's adult section, reflecting a lack of bestsellers and the later release of key cookery books.
Bloomsbury tends to earn the bulk of its profits in the second half, reflecting Christmas gift-giving and students stocking up on textbooks for the academic year. Nonetheless, a 45 per cent rise in revenues in the children's and educational divisions bodes well for the full year, especially given the recent launch of an illustrated edition of the first book in the Harry Potter series. A biography of famed spy author John le Carré and a cookery book by Tom Kerridge are also on the release slate.
Management continued to diversify away from print publishing in favour of faster-growing digital offerings. The upshot was a 21 per cent rise in digital sales in the academic and professional business, as it expanded its Drama Online platform to include 350 more audio plays and 20 Shakespeare productions filmed live at the Globe Theatre.
Broker Numis expects pre-tax profits of £12.9m for the year to February 2016, giving EPS of 14.0p (£12.1m and 14.7p in FY2015).
| BLOOMSBURY PUBLISHING (BMY) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 167p | MARKET VALUE: | £125m | |
| TOUCH: | 166.5-170p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 185p | LOW: 141p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 3.7% | PE RATIO: | 14 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 166p* | NET CASH: | £0.9m | |
| Half-year to 31 Aug | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | 46.6 | 0.5 | 0.6 | 1.02 |
| 2015 | 52.7 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 1.06 |
| % change | +13 | -33 | -34 | +4 |
Ex-div: 5 Nov Payment: 30 Nov *Includes intangible assets of £63.7m, or 85p a share | ||||
