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Summary
- Bloomsbury Publishing Plc had reported a revenue surge of 10% during H1 FY20/21 ended on 31 August 2020.
- The Company had net cash of £44.1 million as of 31 August 2020.
- The revenue of Sarah J. Maas had increased by 131% over the period.
- The Company had paid an H1 FY20/21 interim dividend of 1.28 pence per share on 04 December 2020.
Bloomsbury Publishing Plc (LON:BMY) is the FTSE All-Share listed media stock. The Company is the leading independent publisher based in the UK. BMY’s shares have generated a return of about 5.52% in the last 12 months.
The Company will release full-year FY20/21 preliminary results ending 28 February 2021 in June 2021.
Business Model
The Company is the leading UK-based publisher, engaged in publishing of books and other related services. Bloomsbury had completed 16 acquisition deals since 2008.
The Company has two reportable business segments: Consumer & Non-Consumer. The Consumer segment can be bifurcated into futher two business division, Adult and Children's trade publishing.
Pre-Close Trading Update (for 12 months ending 28 February 2021, as on 29 January 2021)
- The Company had anticipated its FY20/21 revenue and profit to be more than the market expectations.
- John Warren will step down from the Board and Chair of the Audit Committee in July 2021. He will be replaced by Leslie-Ann Reed as the Chair of the Audit Committee.
- The Company had performed strong backlist sales during H2 FY20/21 for –
- Harry Potter
- Sarah J. Maas
- Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race
- Such A Fun Age
- Dishoom
- Some of the newly published bestsellers during the period include –
- Eat Better Forever by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall
- Outlawed
- Joe Biden - American Dreamer
- Humankind
- The Company had shown good progress for Academic and Professional segment during the lockdown period. The Company is well-positioned to take advantage of rising demand from educational institutions.
Recent News
On 14 December 2020, the Company had announced the appointment of Baroness Lola Young into the Board as a Non-Executive Director effective 01 January 2021.
H1 FY20/21 Financial Highlights (for six months period ended 31 August 2020, as on 27 October 2020)
(Source: Company result)
- The Company’s revenue had increased by 10% to £78.3 million for H1 FY20/21, while it was £71.3 million during H1 FY19/20.
- The Company had shown resilient business performance for online book segment.
- On the profitability front, the profit before taxation had increased by £1.7 million to £3.0 million during H1 FY20/21.
- Similarly, the diluted earnings per share went up by 131% to 2.87 pence per share during H1 FY20/21.
- The Company had maintained the same level of an interim dividend of 1.28 pence per share during H1 FY20/21 as that of H1 FY19/20. The dividend was paid on 04 December 2020.
- The Company had net cash of £44.1 million as of 31 August 2020 due to robust cash generation and strong trading performance during the period.
Segmental Performance (as on 27 October 2020)
Consumer Segment - The Consumer segment had delivered resilient trading performance and reported revenue growth of 17% to £48.6 million during the period due to strong demand across both print & digital medium and the effectiveness of online sales channels. The profit before taxation and highlighted items had increased significantly by £2.1 million to £2.7 million. The Adult trade segment had demonstrated revenue growth of 16% to £18.8 million during H1 FY20/21. Some of the bestsellers published in the Sunday Times include –
- Humankind by Rutger Bregman
- Kiley Reid's Such a Fun Age
- Reni Eddo-Lodge's Why I'm No Longer Talking
The Children’s business segment sales were jumped by 18% to £29.8 million during the period due to the strong demand from J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series, as well as Sarah J. Maas' latest bestseller, Crescent City: House of Earth and Blood. The revenue of Sarah J. Maas had increased by 131% over the period.
Non-Consumer Segment – This particular division focused on Academic & Professional and Special Interest. The sales demonstrated a marginal drop of approximately 1% to £29.7 million during H1 FY20/21 The Academic & professional segment sales increased by 1 % while Special Interest sales were declined by 4% over the period. The Non-Consumer digital revenues had delivered 47% growth during H1 FY20/21 compared to H1 FY19/20.
Share Price Performance Analysis of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
(Source: EODHD/Others, chart created by Kalkine group)
Shares of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc were trading at GBX 301.00 and were down by close to 1.63% against the previous closing price as on 01 February 2021, (before the market close at 08:10 AM GMT). BMY's 52-week High and Low were GBX 327.00 and GBX 159.92, respectively. Bloomsbury Publishing Plc had a market capitalization of around £257.41 million.
Business Outlook
The Company had witnessed a boom in online reading boosted by lockdowns and restrictions of Covid-19. As estimated by Nielson, the volume of print books sold in the UK had demonstrated a growth of 5.2% during 2020 compared to 2019. The Board had forecasted revenue of £161.8 million and profit before taxation & highlighted items of £12.1 million for FY20/21 ending on 28 February 2021. The Company had a strong pipeline of books and shown confidence regarding the prospects of the publishing industry. The Company had forecasted BDR (Bloomsbury Digital Resources) revenue of £15 million and a profit of £5 million for the financial year FY21/22. The Company had plans to increase its footprints on a global level and reduce the dependency of trading business from UK markets. The overseas revenue contributed around 67% of total revenue and 70% of academic BDR revenue.
