BLOOMSBURY PUBLISHING PLC

Unaudited Interim Results for the six months ended 31 August 2025

Full year profit upgrade; No. 1 bestseller from Gillian Anderson and AI licensing agreement

Bloomsbury Publishing Plc (LSE: BMY, "Bloomsbury" or "the Company"), the leading independent publisher, today announces unaudited results for the six months ended 31 August 2025.

Commenting on the results, Nigel Newton, Chief Executive, said:

"Bloomsbury is pleased to report revenue of £160m and profit¹ of £24m with a strong margin of 15%.

In the Academic & Professional division, we achieved revenue growth of 20% despite the challenging market conditions in the UK and US. Growth was driven by the intellectual property value and quality of our academic list which enabled us to sign our first non-exclusive AI licensing agreement, announced in July. With this, we continue to find new ways of monetising our content.

I am pleased to confirm the integration of Rowman & Littlefield is now substantially complete in both the US and the UK. Digitisation of its titles continues apace, contributing to Bloomsbury Digital Resources (BDR). Our international expansion will continue with the opening of an office in Singapore, allowing us to capitalise on the forecast growth in the student population in Asia.

The Consumer division performance was in line with expectations. The success of Sarah J. Maas' frontlist title in the first half of last year created a strong comparative period. Bloomsbury was voted Publisher of the Year 2025 at the British Book Awards. The success of Want by Gillian Anderson continued, winning Publicity Campaign of the Year followed by the paperback hitting Number 1 on the Sunday Times bestseller list; it has remained a bestseller for 15 weeks. We have had a positive start to the second half with further bestsellers including new titles from Samantha Shannon and Katherine Rundell, who recently announced a multi-film deal with Walt Disney Studios.

As a reflection of our confidence in the future, the Board declares an interim dividend of 4.08 pence per share, an increase of 5% year on year.

The Board is confident in our strategy and expects to deliver full year profit ahead of expectations.²"

Financial Highlights

·    Group revenue of £159.5m (H1 2024/25: £179.8m)  

·    Group profit before taxation and highlighted items³ of £24.0m (H1 2024/25: £26.6m)

·    $10m further early repayment of Rowman & Littlefield acquisition loan

·    Net cash is £2.4m with a more efficient balance sheet post the Rowman & Littlefield acquisition

·    Interim dividend increased by 5% year on year to 4.08p per share

Operational Highlights

·    Bloomsbury 2030 Vision progressing well, supporting growth and profitability

·    Successfully moved our UK distribution and warehousing arrangements to Hachette

·    Strengthened our sales infrastructure with the creation of the US key account sales team

·   Special Interest has moved into the Consumer division with management alignment with the wider Consumer teams; A&P (including BDR) has become a standalone division

·   Earned the Great Place to Work certification for the second year

·   Appointment of Keith Underwood as Chief Financial and Operating Officer starting February 2026

Academic & Professional Division (A&P) Highlights

·    A&P revenue up 20% to £46.1m (H1 2024/25: £38.5m) and profit before tax and highlighted items £11.0m (H1 2024/25: £6.0m) with margin of 24% (H1 2024/25: 16%)

·    IP value of academic content enabled us to sign our first non-exclusive AI licensing agreement

·    Well documented challenging market conditions with UK and US budgetary pressures

·   Singapore office on track to open H2 2025/26 to expand Bloomsbury's direct relationships in Asia and capitalise on expected growth in student numbers in the region⁴

·    Rowman & Littlefield integration substantially complete; digitisation and royalties ongoing

·    BDR revenue increased in constant currency; FX headwind took revenue to £13.6m (H1 2024/25: £13.7m)

Consumer Division Highlights

·    Consumer was in line with expectations versus a strong comparative

·   Revenue of £113.4m (H1 2024/25: £141.3m) and profit before tax and highlighted items³ of £13.4m (H1 2024/25: £20.6m); numbers are restated to include Special Interest

·    Bloomsbury won Publisher of the Year 2025 at the British Book Awards

·    Gillian Anderson's Want has been in the Top 10 on the Sunday Times bestseller list for 15 weeks

·    Katherine Rundell topped bestseller lists and secured a multi-film deal with Walt Disney Studios

·    Sarah J. Maas paperback of House of Flame and Shadow was a bestseller, published in June 2025

·    J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series continues to be a bestseller 28 years after publication

Notes

¹                 Profit before taxation and highlighted items.

²                The Board considers consensus market expectations (before this publication) for the year ending 28 February 2026 to be revenue of £335.9m and profit before taxation and highlighted items of £41.6m.

³              Highlighted items comprise amortisation of acquired intangible assets and legal and other professional costs relating to ongoing and completed acquisitions, integration and restructuring costs.

⁴                 World Bank estimates that globally there will be 380m higher education students by 2030 up 73% from 220m in 2021.

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Disclaimer

Certain statements, statistics and projections in this announcement are or may be forward looking. By their nature, forward‑looking statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties or assumptions that may or may not occur and actual results or events may differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Accordingly, no assurance can be given that any particular expectation will be met and reliance should not be placed on any forward-looking statement. Accordingly, forward-looking statements contained in this announcement regarding past trends or activities should not be taken as representation that such trends or activities will continue in the future. You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which are based on the knowledge and information available only at the date of this announcement's preparation. The Company does not undertake any obligation to update or keep current the information contained in this announcement, including any forward‑looking statements, or to correct any inaccuracies which may become apparent and any opinions expressed in it are subject to change without notice. References in this announcement to other reports or materials, such as a website address, have been provided to direct the reader to other sources of information on Bloomsbury Publishing Plc which may be of interest. Neither the content of Bloomsbury's website nor any website accessible by hyperlinks from Bloomsbury's website nor any additional materials contained or accessible thereon, are incorporated in, or form part of, this announcement.

Chief Executive's Statement

Overview

Bloomsbury achieved H1 2025/26 Group revenue of £159.5m and profit of £24.0m with a strong margin of 15.0%. Through our portfolio of portfolios strategy and entrepreneurial culture, we continue to unlock new ways of monetising our content. Our track record includes international, digital and audio diversification, the creation of Bloomsbury Digital Resources (BDR), and now further monetisation of content through our first, non-exclusive, AI licensing agreement.

We are progressing with key operational and infrastructure changes announced in the Bloomsbury 2030 vision to support growth and profitability. In 2025 we successfully changed our UK distribution and warehousing arrangements, strengthened our sales structure with the creation of the US key account sales team, replacing a third party commission sales arrangement, and are in the process of implementing our new global royalties system to improve efficiency.

In the Academic & Professional division, we achieved revenue growth of 20%. As announced in July, the intellectual property value and quality of our academic list has enabled us to sign our first non-exclusive AI licensing agreement which had a positive contribution in the period. With this, we continue to find new ways of monetising our content, notwithstanding the ongoing challenging market conditions in the UK and US. Our international expansion continues with the opening of our new office in Singapore this year to capitalise on the forecast growth in the student population in the region. The integration of Rowman & Littlefield is substantially complete with digitisation and royalties ongoing.

The Consumer division performed in line with expectations, with a strong comparative given its strength in the first half of last year. We have further diversified our Consumer portfolio, which includes fantasy, romantasy, cosy crime, non-fiction lifestyle and cookery. Our bestselling and award-winning fiction lists resulted in Bloomsbury being voted Publisher of the Year at the British Book Awards in May 2025. We have had a range of bestsellers including paperbacks from Sarah J. Maas and Gillian Anderson in the first half and new titles from Katherine Rundell and Samantha Shannon at the start of the second half. Gillian Anderson's Want remained in the Top 10 of the Sunday Times paperback bestseller list beyond the period-end.

We have successfully pursued our long-term strategy of combining general and academic publishing which has created a portfolio of portfolios - a model that continues to provide Bloomsbury with resilient success.

Group Financials

Bloomsbury achieved group revenue of £159.5m (H1 2024/25: £179.8m). Group profit before taxation and highlighted items was £24.0m (H1 2024/25: £26.6m). Profit before taxation was £18.3m (H1 2024/25: £22.1m).

Highlighted items of £5.7m (H1 2024/25: £4.5m) consist of the amortisation of acquired intangible assets of £4.5m (H1 2024/25: £3.7m), one-off legal and other professional fees related to acquisitions, integration and restructuring costs of £1.2m (H1 2024/25: £0.8m).

The effective rate of tax for the six months was 25% (H1 2024/25: 25%). The adjusted effective rate of tax, excluding highlighted items, was 22% (H1 2024/25: 23%). Net finance costs were £0.7m (H1 2024/25: £0.0m).

Diluted earnings per share, excluding highlighted items, were 22.98p (H1 2024/25: 24.68p).  Including highlighted items, profit before tax was £18.3m (H1 2024/25: £22.1m) and diluted earnings per share were 16.79p (H1 2024/25: 20.10p).

The interim dividend will increase by 5% to 4.08p per share (H1 2024/25: 3.89p).

Bloomsbury has a net cash position of £2.4m. In the first half we have paid down an additional $10m of the debt associated with the acquisition of Rowman & Littlefield ahead of schedule, taking the total repaid to $17.5m. The remaining loan of $20m runs to May 2027.

Academic & Professional Division

The Academic & Professional division consists of academic and professional publishing, including BDR. Special Interest is now reported within the Consumer division following management alignment with the wider Consumer teams.

Academic & Professional revenue grew by 20% to £46.1m (H1 2024/25: £38.5m) including our first AI licensing agreement, which started in the period. Profit before taxation and highlighted items increased to £11.0m (H1 2024/25: £6.0m) with a margin of 24% (H1 2024/25: 16%). Profit before taxation was £6.8m (H1 2024/25: £2.7m).

On 16 July 2025, Bloomsbury announced that we had signed our first non-exclusive AI licensing agreement. This was enabled by the intellectual property value and quality of our academic list, which had been enhanced with the acquisitions of Rowman & Littlefield and ABC-CLIO. Bloomsbury is engaging with our Academic & Professional authors with opt-in agreements to enable their titles to be included. The non-exclusive nature of the AI agreement will enable us to potentially reach further agreements in the future.

The Rowman & Littlefield assets were acquired in May 2024 and are substantially integrated. Warehouse and distribution consolidation was completed in the US in the first half and in the UK at the start of the second half. Digitisation of titles and the integration of royalties are ongoing.  

Academic & Professional market conditions remain challenging, with budget pressures in the UK and the US. Budgetary pressure for UK higher education institutions has been driven by a decrease in international students and an increase in National Insurance contributions. In the US, academic funding uncertainty is contributing to budgetary pressure for higher education institutions. We are confident longer term given our product offering and the student numbers which are projected to grow worldwide.¹

Later this year we will be expanding our business in Asia by opening an office in Singapore to further capitalise on the projected growth in the student population in the region, building on the success of our established offices in Australia and India. It is estimated that by 2040 there could be 600m higher education students globally with over 60% of these in Asia (Calderon, UNESCO). Bloomsbury will be well placed geographically and structurally to benefit from student growth alongside the growth of digital learning.

Bloomsbury Digital Resources is strategically positioned to benefit from the Academic transition to digital. BDR revenue grew in constant currency. The impact of the weaker US dollar took revenue to £13.6m (H1 2024/25: £13.7m). The strategically important acquisition of Rowman & Littlefield has started to contribute to BDR's growth, with over 6,000 titles digitised and available. Our BDR strategy continues to build high margin, high quality, repeatable digital revenue from our market leading Academic & Professional IP and our ambitious target remains at £41m revenue in 2027/28.

Consumer Division

The Consumer division now consists of Adult, Young Adult and Children's publishing and Special Interest. From this reporting period, Special Interest results are reported within Consumer, following management alignment with the wider Consumer teams; prior period results have been restated. Bloomsbury was voted Publisher of the Year at the British Book Awards in May 2025.

The Consumer division has performed in line with expectations with a strong comparative, having had a very strong year in 2024/25 with high operational gearing on exceptional sales following the publication of Sarah J. Maas' House of Flame and Shadow in January 2024. Consumer revenue of £113.4m (H1 2024/25: £141.3m) is below prior year, however is 13% higher than the first half of 2023/24 (£100.3m). Profit before taxation and highlighted items was £13.4m (H1 2024/25: £20.6m) with a margin of 12%, partially impacted by the inclusion of Special Interest without which it would have been 14%. Profit before taxation was £13.1m (H1 2024/25: £20.2m).

Sarah J. Maas topped bestseller lists again in the UK and US with the paperback launch of House of Flame and Shadow in June. J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter title sales remain robust 28 years after first publication, demonstrating the enduring appeal of this classic series. The publication of J.K. Rowling's Pocket Potters series began in August with three titles - Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. The forthcoming Harry Potter TV series will introduce the books to new readers: Warner Brothers Discovery has announced that it is planning a seven season run of a new Harry Potter streaming series, based on the original seven books, to be broadcast on the Max streaming service.

Special Interest trends continued in the first half with some contraction. Regular publications such as Wisden Cricketers' Almanack and Reeds Nautical Almanac remain loved by enthusiasts worldwide.

Our strong list for H2 2025/26 includes:

·   Gillian Anderson's Want has been on the Sunday Times paperback bestseller list for 15 weeks, including 9 weeks in the top spot;

·   Katherine Rundell's The Poisoned King, the second in the Impossible Creatures series, was published on 11 September 2025 and became an instant No.1  Sunday Times and New York Times bestseller and in October announced a film deal with Walt Disney Studios;

·   Samantha Shannon's Among the Burning Flowers was published on 11 September and was on the Sunday Times and New York Times bestseller lists;

·   Stephanie V.W. Lucianovic's Zombie and Brain are Friends was published on 2 September and became an instant New York Times bestseller;

·   Patrick Ryan's Buckeye, published on 2 September;

·   Elizabeth Gilbert's All the Way to the River was published on 9 September and became a New York Times bestseller;

·   Poppy O'Toole's Poppy Cooks: Actually Delicious One Pot was published on 25 September;

·   Founder of Wikipedia Jimmy Wales' The Seven Rules of Trust will be published on 28 October; and

·   Amber Hamilton's Seven Deadly Thorns will be published on 28 October.

Bloomsbury bestselling author Katherine Rundell announced a multi-film deal with Walt Disney Studios post period end. Katherine Rundell has published two books in the bestselling Impossible Creatures series with three more to be published. Rundell's most recent book The Poisoned King made her the first UK children's author since J.K. Rowling to be simultaneously top of the UK and US children's book charts. Bloomsbury hold the print, ebook and audio rights exclusively in the UK, Europe and Commonwealth. We have published Rundell since 2015 and in 2024 she was awarded both 'Author of The Year' and 'Children's Book of The Year' at The British Book Awards.

Acquisitions

The acquisition of Rowman & Littlefield's academic publishing assets for £64.8m ($82.5m) on 28 May 2024 has strengthened Bloomsbury's academic publishing, and provided further content for us to monetise through our global reach, BDR and AI licensing agreements. Integration is substantially complete, with digitisation and royalties ongoing.

Bloomsbury has a successful track record in strategic acquisitions, with 34 completed over its history. We will assess further acquisition opportunities in line with our long-term growth strategy.

Cash and Financing

Bloomsbury maintains a robust financial position with net cash as at 31 August 2025 of £2.4m (H1 2024/25: £9.7m). This consists of cash of £17.1m and term loan of £14.7m.

The Group has an unsecured term loan with Lloyds Bank Plc, used for the acquisition of Rowman & Littlefield alongside cash. This comprises a committed and remaining drawn term loan of $20.0m (31 August 2024: $37.5m) which runs to May 2027. We have paid down $17.5m of the debt associated with the acquisition ahead of schedule, $10m of which was in H1 2025/26. 

The Group also has an unsecured revolving credit facility with Lloyds Bank Plc. The facility comprises a committed revolving credit facility of £20m and an uncommitted incremental term loan facility of up to £20m. The agreement runs to November 2027. At 31 August 2025, the Group had no draw down (H1 2024/25: £nil) of this facility.

Both facilities are subject to two covenants, being a maximum net debt to EBITDA ratio of 2.5x and a minimum interest cover covenant of 4x.

Dividend

The interim dividend will increase by 5% to 4.08p per share (H1 2024/25: 3.89p). Bloomsbury reiterates its intention to increase the dividend for the full year in-line with market expectations.² The interim dividend will be paid on 28 November 2025 to Shareholders on the register on the record date of 31 October 2025.

Board changes

In September we were pleased to announce that Keith Underwood will be joining Bloomsbury as Chief Financial and Operating Officer on 2 February 2026. Keith currently holds the same role at Guardian Media Group, and his appointment will support a smooth and orderly transition with our current Group Finance Director, Penny Scott-Bayfield. Keith will also become a member of Bloomsbury's Board of Directors.

Outlook

Despite the challenging macroeconomic backdrop, the Board is confident in our strategy and expects to deliver full year profit ahead of expectations.³

Note

1.     World Bank estimates that globally there will be 380m higher education students by 2030 up 73% from 220m in 2021.

2.     The Board considers consensus market expectation for the year ending 28 February 2026 to be 5% dividend growth.

3.     The Board considers consensus market expectations (before this publication) for the year ending 28 February 2026 to be revenue of £335.9m and profit before taxation and highlighted items of £41.6m.

Condensed Consolidated Interim Income Statement

For the six months ended 31 August 2025

The accompanying notes form an integral part of this condensed consolidated interim financial report.

Condensed Consolidated Interim Statement of Comprehensive Income

For the six months ended 31 August 2025

Items in the statement above are disclosed net of tax.