28th Jun 2007 07:02
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC28 June 2007 Not to be released by RNS until 7am Thursday 28th June, 2007 28 June 2007 Bloomsbury Publishing Plc AGM Statement • Six point development strategy progressing well • 24 bestsellers worldwide so far this year • Long-term reference rights licence deals completed • Export pre-orders for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows ahead of total export sales for the previous book • Major acquisitions being pursued At today's AGM of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, Nigel Newton, Chairman, will makethe following statement: "At the time of our preliminary results in April, we indicated that the strategyof the Group is focused on six areas which build on our existing strengths anddevelop new opportunities. The key elements of our strategy are to: - generate content, particularly in new digital areas, and from television and film; - build new author relationships and content; - exploit our geographic reach; - develop greater revenues from our current stable of authors; - pioneer web-based initiatives; and - undertake acquisitions. Since the company's preliminary statement on 3rd April, we have made substantialprogress in realising the benefits of these strategic objectives - leveragingour international businesses, expanding our programme in the US and publishingbestsellers. These initiatives will help underpin the long-term success of thebusiness between 2008-2012. Reference Rights Contracts Update We have recently signed new long-term reference contracts with Oxford UniversityPress, Microsoft and ProQuest. The agreement with OUP is for an online version of Who's Who. Commencing inDecember 2007, the 2008 edition of Who's Who and the historical archive of Who'sWho will be published online on a dedicated website combined with OUP'sDictionary of National Biography. The agreement is for ten years for this majorcollaboration of two of the greatest biographical works in reference publishing. The long-term agreement with Microsoft is for the license of electronic rightsto a reference database and extends Bloomsbury's relationship with Microsoftdating from the publication online and in print of the Encarta World EnglishDictionary in 1999. We have also negotiated renewal of an agreement with ProQuest for Whitaker'sAlmanack in KnowUK - this new agreement allows Whitaker's content to be offeredby them until 2011. An important reference rights deal for the Finance - The Ultimate Resourceon-line and print database, which was announced in our preliminary statement of3rd April, is under negotiation with a preferred party - a leading internationalfinancial organisation. A second party, a major American financial informationprovider, is also interested. This is a truly exciting project which willaddress a huge market and generate revenues for the next 10 years and beyond. TV and Film Tie-Ins Television and film tie-ins include David Dimbleby's book How We Built Britain,currently being broadcast on BBC One on Sunday nights, which has reached theSunday Times top 10 bestseller list. In January next year, the film of The KiteRunner will be released in the UK, which will drive further sales in 2008 ofwhat is already an immensely successful book. Bloomsbury USA We announced on 1st June a new imprint in America to be called Bloomsbury Presswhich will specialise in non-fiction publishing in history, politics, economicsand business, science, and philosophy. Bloomsbury Press will publish 20 newhardcover titles per annum and will develop its own list of trade paperbacks.Bloomsbury Press already has 22 titles under contract, with the first eleven tobe launched during the first half of 2008. Bloomsbury Germany In Berlin, our established backlist title, Fugitive Pieces by Anne Michaels wasfeatured on the influential Elke Heidenreich TV show on Tuesday night. We havehad six bestsellers in Germany so far this year, including the TV tie-in titleDie Flucht by Tatjana Grafin Donhoff. New Bestsellers We have major current UK bestsellers including the number 1 bestseller AThousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini, author of the 1.1 million copyselling The Kite Runner, a history bestseller in Austerity Britain by DavidKynaston and from A&C Black, the surprise hit Do's and Don'ts for Husbands andWives. New Prizes On Tuesday last week, Rajiv Chandrasekaran won Britain's top award fornon-fiction, the Samuel Johnson Prize with Imperial Life in the Emerald Cityabout life in the Green Zone in Baghdad, the prize-giving was televised on theBBC. Will Davis's My Side of the Story won the Betty Trask Prize, the previouswinners of which include Zadie Smith, Kiran Desai, Alex Garland and JohnLanchester. The Last Mughal by William Dalrymple won the Duff Cooper Prize.Restless by William Boyd won the Costa Novel of the Year Prize. We have alsorecently launched books by Pope Benedict XVI, Gordon Brown and Al Gore. 21st Anniversary In September, coinciding with the 21st anniversary of the founding of Bloomsburyon 26th September 1986, we will be focussing on sales of the special collectionof paperback editions of 21 milestone Bloomsbury titles to celebrate theoutstanding authors we publish. Harry Potter On 21st July, we will launch the seventh and final Harry Potter book HarryPotter and the Deathly Hallows. As in previous years, export orders will beinvoiced and despatched before 30 June. These orders are 17% ahead of the totalexport sales of the previous book. We will launch the boxed set editions of thecomplete series of all seven Harry Potters on 1st October, 2007, and thepaperback edition of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in 2008. Internet Promotions In a web-based initiative, Bloomsbury created a Look Inside widget that wasadopted within hours of the announcement of the Samuel Johnson prize forImperial Life in the Emerald City by www.bbc.co.uk- a powerful marketinginitiative, which harnessed the BBC's high website traffic. The digitisationprogramme is well underway and Look Inside widgets are proving to be asuccessful viral marketing tool for our books. Acquisitions We have been working hard this year in pursuing potential acquisitions and thecompany is actively considering a number of opportunities. Outlook - 2007 and beyond The above news is good, but the Board will not be giving 2007 guidance in viewof the fact that, as the past indicates, it is 'not done until it is done', andmany market factors in the second half are by definition unpredictable. Anumber of Bloomsbury, A&C Black, Bloomsbury USA and Berlin titles are sellingwell in what continues to be a difficult market. In the medium and long term, Bloomsbury is guided by a clear developmentstrategy which will support its development. We are confident that the buildingblocks for Bloomsbury's future are in place - a future where our core expertisewill continue to play a fundamental role, namely publishing, in whatever form,books of the highest possible quality, with content which excites and pleasesreaders. This will make them more loyal and supportive, thus helping uscontinue to attract the best possible talent in authors, editors and third-partypartners, so that we can realise our strategic goals with creativity and flair. ENDS Enquiries Nigel Newton, Chief Executive or Colin Adams, Finance Director Bloomsbury Publishing Plc 020 7494 2111 Tim Spratt or Charlie Palmer, Financial Dynamics 020 7831 3113 Note to Editors Bloomsbury was founded 21 years ago by its chief executive Nigel Newton, basedon the principle of publishing books of excellence and originality for a widemarket. The company undertook a full stock exchange listing in London in 1994and has since expanded its publishing categories and geographical reach. Today,Bloomsbury has three divisions - adult, children's and reference - which spanthe world's three largest book markets of the USA, Germany and the UK, where theCompany has established offices. Bloomsbury has a strong reputation in developing new authors - Anthony Bourdain,David Guterson, Anne Michaels, J.K.Rowling, Will Self and Ben Schott - and inpublishing established ones, including, Margaret Atwood, John Irving, JayMcInerney, Michael Ondaatje, Donna Tartt, Joanna Trollope and BenjaminZephaniah. The company is well recognized for its ability to identify newauthors, and employing highly professional sales and marketing skills to publishtheir books to maximum effect. With a worldwide library of over 11,500 titles,Bloomsbury also exploits a valuable backlist, publishing regular repeat authors. It also develops major information databases for electronic and printpublication. Bloomsbury's books are increasingly linked to television and film tie-ins,including The English Patient, Snow Falling on Cedars, the first four HarryPotter titles (with the fifth film to have its premiere on 3rd July) and on TV,David Dimbleby's How We Built Britain, The Only Boy for Me by Gil McNeil, andthe forthcoming The Wild Gourmets by Guy Grieve and Thomasina Miers.Bloomsbury's bestseller, The Kite Runner, will be released as a major film inthe UK in 2008. 2007 bestsellers and database agreementsCountry Title of 2007 BestsellersUK Restless by William Boyd A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini How We Built Britain by David Dimbleby Austerity Britain by David Kynaston Jesus of Nazareth by Pope Benedict XVI Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by JK Rowling Physik by Angie Sage Princess Academy by Shannon Hale USA Waiting for Daisy by Peggy Orenstein, Medicus by Ruth Downie Princess Academy by Shannon Hale Gone Wild by David McLimans Nasty Bits by Anthony Bourdain Real Food by Nina Plank Highest Tide by Jim Lynch Lemon Tree by Sandy Tolan Austenland by Shannon Hale Kiki Strike by Kirsten Miller Germany Ruhelos by William Boyd Salz des Lebens by Benoite Groult Die Flucht by Tatjana Grafin Donhoff Handy by Ingo Schulze Drachenlaufer by Khaled Hosseini Spate Familie by Zeruya Shalev Prizes Won in 2007 Costa Novel of the Year Award - Restless by William Boyd Duff Cooper Prize - Last Mughal by William Dalrymple Betty Trask Prize - My Side of the Story by Will Davis Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction - Imperial Life in the Emerald City byRajiv Chandrasekaran Caldecott Honours Medal - Gone Wild: An Endangered Animal Alphabet by DavidMcLimans National Book Critic's Circle Award - Lemon Tree by Sandy Tolan SCIBA Award, finalist - Miss American Pie by Margaret Sartor PNBA Award Winner - Highest Tide by Jim Lynch Los Angeles Times Book Prize - Librettist of Venice by Rodney Bolt The Lukas Prize - There Is No Me Without You by Melissa Faye Greene AIGA Award for Best Jacket - Poppy Shakespeare by Clare Allen ALA Notable Children's Book - Gone Wild by David McLimans & Larklight by PhilipReeve, illustrations by David Wyatt ALA Best Book for Young Adults - Kiki Strike: Inside the Shadow City by KirstenMiller & Trigger, Susan Vaught California Young Reader Medal - Christopher Mouse by William Wise Ohio Buckeye Children's Book Award - Once Upon a Cool Motorcycle Dude by KevinO'Malley Golden Kite Award - Not Afraid of Dogs by Susanna Pitzer, Illustrated by LarryDay Leipzig Book Fair Prize - Handy by Ingo Schulze Hegel Prize - Richard Sennett Georg Buchner Prize - Martin Mosebach Database Deals Completed in 2007 • Oxford University Press - Who's Who online deal • Microsoft - Major online deal • Finance Database - Under contract negotiation with a preferred party • Echelon Learning - Business • Macmillan - 2nd US edition of the Macmillan English Dictionary and a bilingual Catalan dictionary • ProQuest - Whitaker's Almanack online This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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