Press releases & announcements

1st April 2008

Preliminary Results for the Year Ended 31 December 2007

2007 was an exceptionally strong year for the Company and this momentum has continued into the first quarter of 2008.

Financial highlights

The highlights for 2007 include:

• Revenue increased to £150.21m (2006, £74.77m).
• Pre-tax profit improved to £17.86m (2006, £5.20m).
• Basic earnings per share increased to 16.06p (2006, 4.99p).
• Strong cash generation, particularly in the UK, resulting in net cash of £47.56m (2006, £24.30m).
• Final dividend increased 10% to 3.30p per share (2006, 3.00p). Full year dividend increased by 9.3% to 4.00p (2006, 3.66p).
• Strong balance sheet which positions group for future growth.
• Good start to current year with a strong pipeline of new titles, in line with the Board's expectations.
• Acquisition of Featherstone Education Limited, a specialist educational publisher, on 31 March, 2008.

Operating highlights

• Record breaking performance from adult and children's titles.
• Continued reduction in the Group's cost base following overhead reviews in UK and USA.
• Strong sales of Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns and of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
• Substantial growth in Berlin Verlag, where Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in the English language sold over one million copies. Both Khaled Hosseini's books enjoyed strong success. Current trading has also been boosted by the launch of Jonathan Littell's controversial book Die Wohlgesinnten resulting in hardcover sales exceeding 100,000 copies.
• Future revenue streams generated by deals with existing and new partners on database content, including Qatar Finance - The Ultimate Resource, a book and online service.
  

Commenting on the results and prospects for Bloomsbury, Nigel Newton, Chief Executive, said:

"This is a good set of results, substantially ahead of last year. We saw strong growth from our Adult and Children's publishing and also from A&C Black and Berlin Verlag.

We are now well positioned for the post Harry Potter era. We have reduced overhead costs, are successfully developing new business areas in specialist publishing, and have a strong pipeline of titles. We will continue to do what Bloomsbury does best - discovering new talent and developing it both in the UK and overseas.

The first quarter of 2008 has started strongly and we have a number of new database projects under development."

For further information, please contact:

Nigel Newton, Chief Executive, Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
020 7494 6015

Daniel de Belder / Rosanne Perry, Bell Pottinger
020 78613232

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