Bloomsbury's revenue up 32% as trade division soars

Bloomsbury publishing reported revenue growth of 32% to £179.8m for the six months ending 31st August 2024, while profit before taxation and highlighted items was up 50% to £26.6m. 

The publisher’s consumer division has seen exceptional growth, with consumer revenue up 47% to £131.3m, and profit before taxation and highlighted items up 91% to £21.4m. 

This growth has been driven by several bestselling titles, including books by Sarah J Maas, whose sales grew by 102% during this period. The author’s newest book, Crescent City: House of Flame and Shadow, has also driven sales in her backlist titles.

Commenting on the results, chief executive Nigel Newton said: "Consumer division revenue growth of 47% was driven by the continued success of our fantasy fiction and a wide range of bestsellers, from cookery to novels." 

J K Rowling’s Harry Potter series continues to drive growth for the publisher, while other bestselling titles have included Cixin Liu’s The Three Body Problem, which has seen renewed interest following the release of the Netflix series this year, and Poppy O’Toole’s Poppy Cooks: The Actually Delicious Air Fryer Cookbook. Ann Patchett’s Tom Lake was a key literary title for the publisher, while Anne Michaels’ Held has been shortlisted for the Booker Prize 2024.

In the non-consumer division, the publisher reported revenue growth of 3% to £48.5m, while profit before taxation and highlighted items was down from £5.9m in H1 2023/24 to £5.2m. 

Bloomsbury’s academic and professional revenue grew by 6% in this period, to £38.5m, while profit before taxation and highlighted items was up 3% to £6.0m. However, organic revenue declined 14%, and the publisher attributes this to budgetary pressures in the UK and America as well as the "accelerated shift" to digital. 

The acquisition of Rowman & Littlefield, which Bloomsbury completed on 28th May 2024, contributed revenue of £7.2m in the period, which was in line with expectations. According to the publisher’s chief executive, "the integration of Rowman & Littlefield is progressing well, its sales are on target and Bloomsbury digital resources (BDR) grew by 2%". Newton said that Rowman & Littlefield will "accelerate BDR’s growth, as Bloomsbury applies its proven ability to create digital revenues to Rowman & Littlefield’s market leading titles".

The publisher is also "exploring the opportunity" of monetising content through AI deals in a "responsible and ethical manner", but no deals have yet been confirmed.

He added: "Following our strong performance in the first half of this year and good trading in September and October, we now expect trading for the full year 2024/25 to be ahead of the current consensus expectation.”