Bloomsbury's non-consumer titles 'strong' ahead of 2018 results

Bloomsbury has revealed that its non-consumer academic and professional division is performing strongly as well as authors such as Tom Kerridge and Sarah J Maas, as shown in its pre-close trading update.

The independent publisher said it expects results for the year up to 28th February 2019 to be in line with the Board's expectations, as detailed in the pre-closing release for the 12 month period.

“The non-consumer academic and professional division continues its strong performance, with organic revenue and margin growth, along with the acquisition of I B Tauris,” the report reads. “In the special interest division, February included the international bestseller In the Closet of the Vatican by Frédéric Martel.”

The update showed that the consumer division is “performing well”, reportedly delivering bestsellers in the second half, including Maas' Kingdom of Ash, Kerridge's Fresh Start and Mary Pipher's Women Rowing North. 

The publishing group saw strong cash generation with net cash of around £27 million at 28th February 2019. Its final results for the year will be posted on 21th May.

A Bloomsbury spokesperson told The Bookseller that it was unable to make any further comments until this period.

The pre-close update comes five months after its unaudited results showed that revenues in the adult trade division had risen by 22% in the first six months of the financial year of 2018.