23rd Oct 2018 09:28
LONDON (Alliance News) - Harry Potter-publisher Bloomsbury Publishing PLC boosted its interim dividend Tuesday after revenue rose despite reported profit dipping on one-off costs.
For the six months ended August, pretax profit narrowed 5.9% to GBP1.6 million from GBP1.7 million the year prior. This was despite revenue rising 4.4% to GBP75.3 million from GBP72.1 million the year before.
Profit performance was hurt by a 64% rise in exceptional costs during the period to GBP1.3 million from GBP794,000 the year prior. This was primarily due to legal & other professional fees and restructuring costs of GBP419,000 from nothing for such items a year prior.
Adjusted pretax profit - excluding exceptional costs - pretax profit rose 13% to GBP2.9 million from GBP2.5 million the year prior.
"I am very pleased with the performance of our business over the last six months," Bloomsbury Chief Executive Officer Nigel Newton said. "Adjusted profit before tax is up 13%, driven by revenue growth of 4% and improved profitability in both segments of our business. Each of our territories achieved growth, and the Adult trade division delivered an outstanding performance, increasing revenues by 22%, as part of the turnaround we have been working towards in that division."
"These strong results, following our excellent results for the interim and full year last year, demonstrates the underlying strength, resilience and further potential of our strategy," Newton added.
Bloomsbury proposed a 1.21 pence per share interim dividend, up 5.2% from 1.15p the year prior.
"In Consumer, we saw revenue growth of 5%, driven by success in the Adult division's great frontlist and backlist titles," Newton continued. "In Non Consumer, our Academic & Professional division continues to benefit from the Bloomsbury Digital Resources 2020 strategic growth initiative as we accelerate digital revenues and become a leading publisher in the B2B academic and professional market."
"We have made very good progress in all seven of our Bigger Bloomsbury initiatives focusing on our key growth drivers with targeted strategies across the group to help grow our revenues and improve our margins over the next five years," Newton said. "The group is trading in line with the board's expectations for the full year."
In a separate announcement on Tuesday, Bloomsbury announced its Bloomsbury Professional unit has signed a "significant seven figure" deal with the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales.
The five year deal will see employees of ICAEW firms gain full access to the online tax and accountancy service of Bloomsbury.
"Ensuring Chartered Accountants deliver the highest standards to which they operate is becoming increasingly important and this partnership helps ensure that firms continue to be trusted and valued contributors to businesses around the world," ICAEW Executive Director Sharron Gunn said. "Bloomsbury Professional has some of the country's leading tax advisor and practitioners writing expert content and for our members it is this level of accuracy that is an absolute premium."
Shares in Bloomsbury were 0.5% higher at 201.00 pence on Tuesday.
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