Book publisher Bloomsbury Publishing (BMY) successfully fended off the dual headwinds of diminishing Harry Potter sales and the rise of e-books over the year to 28 February. That was largely thanks to another strong year of new titles in its Adult and Children's divisions, which helped push group-wide revenues up more than a tenth.
A weak bottom-line performance from the Academic and Professional division was more than offset by a number of major bestsellers in the Adult division, including Khaled Hosseini's 'And the Mountains Echoed'. After stripping out restructuring costs and acquisition-related amortisation charges, pre-tax profits climbed by a more modest 4 per cent, reflecting a surge in sales and administrative costs.
Bloomsbury continues to experience strong growth in its digital business, albeit from a small base: digital sales rose a fifth year on year, and now contribute 12 per cent of title sales. Management confirmed it will continue to invest in this area. It also pointed to a strong publishing programme for the current year, including the paperback editions of a number of this year's hardback successes and some potential new cookery bestsellers.
Broker Investec expects adjusted pre-tax profits of £13.9m in fiscal 2015, giving adjusted EPS of 14.4p, up slightly from £13m and 14.2p last year.
BLOOMSBURY PUBLISHING (BMY) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 157p | MARKET VALUE: | £116m | |
| TOUCH: | 156-157p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 185p | LOW: 110p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 3.7% | PE RATIO: | 15 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 157p* | NET CASH: | £10.0m | |
| Year to 31 Dec | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
| 2009 | 87.2 | 7.1 | 6.8 | 4.43 |
| Year to 28 Feb | (£m) | (£m) | (p) | (p) |
| 2011 | 93.1 | 5.5 | 5.7 | 4.72 |
| 2012 | 97.4 | 8.5 | 9.8 | 5.20 |
| 2013 | 98.5 | 9.8 | 10.8 | 5.50 |
| 2014 | 109 | 9.5 | 10.6 | 5.82 |
| % change | +11 | -3 | -2 | +6 |
Ex-div: 27 Aug Payment: 24 Sep *Includes intangible assets of £61m, or 82p a share | ||||
