2020 North American Comics Sales Grow to $1.28 Billion (publishersweekly.com)

First Quarter of Fiscal 2024 Compared to First Quarter of Fiscal 2023 *Net sales increased 3.5% to $2.7 billion compared to $2.6 billion, primarily due to increased comparable sales, new store contribution, and growth in other revenue. *Comparable sales (sales for stores open at least 14 months and e-commerce sales) increased 1.6% compared to the first quarter of fiscal 2023, driven by a 1.3% increase in transactions and a 0.3% increase in average ticket. *Gross profit increased 1.4% to $1.07 billion compared to $1.05 billion. As a percentage of net sales, gross profit decreased to 39.2% compared to 40.0%, primarily due to lower merchandise margins and higher inventory shrink, partially offset by growth in other revenue. *Operating income was $400.9 million, or 14.7% of net sales, compared to $442.1 million, or 16.8% of net sales.

Revenue is now expected to be over £260 million and profit before taxation and highlighted items is expected to be some £30 million for the year ended 28 February 2023.* This follows strong trading at the end of the year. Commenting on the results, Nigel Newton, Chief Executive of Bloomsbury, said: “Bloomsbury’s unique position in combining consumer and academic publishing combined with our investment in high quality content and company acquisitions has enabled us to achieve excellent trading for the year. We have seen strong demand for our titles - in print, ebook and audio - and continued digital growth. Two of our strongest performances in the year have come from very disparate ends of our publishing strategy - fantasy novels on the one hand and academic digital resources on the other - showing how well our balanced consumer and academic portfolio is working in practice."

For the first quarter, the Company reported a net loss of $178.3 million, or $1.55 loss per diluted share, compared to net income of $2.0 million, or $0.02 earnings per diluted share, for last year's first quarter. For the first quarter, net sales were $280.3 million compared to $517.7 million in last year's first quarter. This decrease of 45.9% reflects the impact of our closed stores during the second half of the first quarter and 78 net store closures since last year's first quarter, partially offset by strong digital commerce performance. During the initial four weeks of fiscal 2020, the Company's comparable sales increased 2.7% compared to the same period last year, building on the positive sales momentum reported in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2019.