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Bloomsbury expects revenue and profit to exceed expectations with growth driven by fantasy
Bloomsbury has announced that revenue and profit before taxation and highlighted items are now expected to be "significantly ahead of upgraded market expectations" for the year ending 29th February 2024, with revenue at £291.4m and profit at £37.2m.
Growth in the Consumer division has been driven in part by the publication of Sarah J Maas’ House of Flame and Shadow on 30th January, which reached number one in the UK, Australia, the US and many other markets. This has also driven demand for Maas’ previous 15 books, which Bloomsbury has published throughout the world in English. The publisher has a further six titles under contract with the author.
Other fantasy authors that continue to drive growth for the publisher include Samantha Shannon, Women’s Prize winner Susanna Clarke, Alan Moore, and Cixin Liu, whose Three Body Problem trilogy film adaptation is being released by Netflix on 21st March. Moreover, Bloomsbury is investing further in fantasy on the newly launched Bloomsbury General list.
Key bestsellers for the publisher include Ghosts—the companion book to the BBC series—and cooking books such as Poppy O’Toole’s air fryer cookbook Poppy Cooks and Tom Kerridge’s Pub Kitchen. Impossible Creatures by Katherine Rundell has also driven growth for the publisher, as has The Harry Potter Wizarding Almanac, the official companion to J K Rowling’s books.
The update follows the news of Sabrina McCarthy’s appointment to president of Bloomsbury US from April. McCarthy will also serve on Bloomsbury’s global executive committee.
“I am overjoyed to report an exceptionally strong period of trading, principally driven by the increasing demand for fantasy fiction," chief executive Nigel Newton commented. "Sarah J Maas is a publishing phenomenon and we are very fortunate to have signed her up with her first book 13 years ago. Her books have a huge audience which continues to grow backed by major Bloomsbury promotional campaigns, driving strong word of mouth recommendation, particularly through TikTok and Instagram channels.”
The company will provide further details on its results for the full year with its preliminary announcement on 23rd May 2024.
