Bloomsbury Reports Unaudited Interim Results for the Six Months Ended 31 August 2020
Commenting on the results, Nigel Newton, Chief Executive, said: “Bloomsbury experienced excellent trading in the first half with year-on-year profit growth of 60% to £4.0 million. This has delivered our highest first half earnings since 2008 and exceeded the Board’s expectations. Online book sales and e-book revenues were significantly higher. The Consumer division had an excellent performance with 17% revenue growth and a £2.1 million increase in profit before tax and highlighted items to £2.7 million. Stand-out bestsellers during the period included Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People about Race, Crescent City: House of Earth and Blood, White Rage, Humankind and Such A Fun Age. In the Non-Consumer division, our strategy of developing online academic resources, conceived five years ago, meant we were well placed to benefit from the accelerated shift by academic institutions to digital products to support remote learning. We saw 47% growth in sales of Bloomsbury Digital Resources as a result.