Turnover up at OUP as it begins post-pandemic recovery 

Oxford University Press recorded turnover of £781.3m in the 12 months to the end of March 2022, a 3.6% increase on the previous year (£754.5m) and an increase of 5.9% at constant exchange rates.  

However, the figures are still down on the £844.9m turnover in the 2019/2020 financial year.  

The press saw its trading surplus increase to £107m, an increase of £37m on the year before, reflecting its post-pandemic recovery, but just shy of the £108.1m in 2019/20. 

Its annual transfer to the rest of the university was £140m, a huge jump compared to the £42.9m and £53.6m transferred in previous years. 

In its annual report chief executive officer Nigel Portwood said: “We saw encouraging improvements in trading across many parts of OUP as pandemic restrictions were lifted. Our academic division—which had been least affected by the impact of the pandemic—maintained its good trading momentum, seeing continued demand for high-quality research content. Our education and ELT divisions also saw a return to growth, with particularly strong performances in the UK, Pakistan, Argentina and Turkey.

“Digital-only sales grew by 6%, with all three divisions reporting good increases. Print sales continued to decline in academic and ELT by 8% and 3% respectively. However, for OUP overall, they grew by 3% due to strong recovery in education.”

The report said the academic division “maintained its good trading momentum across all lines of business, with a 1.7% growth on the already strong performance in the previous year”. It added: “All formats grew except for print, where a decline had been expected with the shift to digital. Although the continued impact of Covid-19 created physical supply chain issues, it nevertheless helped to speed up the transition to digital, especially in higher education, and it encouraged management to focus on creating stronger digital products and supporting authors, researchers and students wherever they work.” Other highlights included reaching the milestone of 100,000 Open Access articles. 

In the education division, schools publishing achieved 12% growth. Recovery was especially notable in Kenya, Pakistan, and India, while in the UK sales of digital and blended products grew 15% year on year.  

The ELT division, similarly, saw encouraging recovery, with digital product sales growing 28%. A major success last year was the launch of the Oxford English Hub, enabling teachers and learners to access digital course materials in one place. The curriculum reform cycle in Spain has created further publishing opportunities and resulted in the introduction of several new primary and secondary courses, the publisher said. 

However it warned that Covid-19 restrictions continued to impact on trading in some markets, such as in Southeast Asia. Regulatory changes in China also had an impact on the ELT division’s trading, as the new education policy “greatly reduced subject-based off-campus tutoring for students, including the learning of English outside of school” the publisher said.  

Commenting on the year, Portwood said: “Our results reflect both the strength of our publishing as well as the progress towards our digital ambitions as we respond to the changing needs of our customers. I am proud of the significant steps we have made recovering our business post-pandemic and in rapidly evolving our products and services. It is testament to the hard work and commitment of all our colleagues at OUP. I look forward to seeing what the next year holds.”