The 'back to school' rush for academic publications and pre-Christmas book stocking by retailers means October is the peak month for Bloomsbury Publishing (BMY). That’s probably why the share price was unmoved despite by a strong set of half-year results, with adjusted pre-tax profits of £2.5m up 74 per cent on the first half of 2016 – the focus is squarely on second half trading.
Consumer sales continue to register double-digit growth. But Bloomsbury’s reliance on children’s literature has become more pronounced as adult sales have dwindled. E-book demand is falling in the adult consumer market, while a rise in self-publishing sent Bloomsbury’s adult sales down by £0.4m to £13.0m. Children’s books however climbed to £31.7m due in part to the continued roll-out of collectors’ editions of Harry Potter.
In the non-consumer division, revenue growth is slower at 8 per cent, but Bloomsbury has managed to sidestep the falling demand for textbooks which has hurt its publishing peers. Investment in online resources kept the division reporting an operating loss of £0.4m, but digital revenues now represent about a quarter of total book revenues in the division, up from 21 per cent last year. Management is still targeting £15m of revenues from digital academic publications by 2022.
Broker Numis expects pre-tax profits of £12m in the year to February 2018, giving EPS of 12.8p (FY2017: £12m and 12.6p).
| BLOOMSBURY PUBLISHING (BMY) | ||||
| ORD PRICE: | 164p | MARKET VALUE: | £ 123m | |
| TOUCH: | 164-166p | 12-MONTH HIGH / LOW: | 183p | 148p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 4.1% | PE RATIO: | 14 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 185p* | NET CASH: | £16.9m | |
| Half-year to 31 Aug | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
| 2016 | 62.7 | 0.15 | 0.15 | 1.10 |
| 2017 | 72.1 | 1.74 | 1.88 | 1.15 |
| % change | +15 | +1080 | +1153 | +5 |
| Ex-div: | 02 Nov | |||
| Payment: | 30 Nov | |||
| *Includes intangible assets of £62.8m, or 83p a share | ||||
