Press releases & announcements

9th September 2003

Interim results for the six months ended 30 June 2003

GOOD PERFORMANCES ACROSS THE GROUP REFLECT SUCCESSFUL EXPANSION OF BOOK PORTFOLIO

• Turnover up 18.2% to £29.00m (2002, £24.54m)
  
• Pre-tax profit before goodwill amortisation increased 13.7% to £3.56m (2002, £3.13m)
  
• Basic earnings per share before goodwill amortisation increased 14.1% to 3.65p (2002, 3.20p)*, in line with pre-tax profits
  
• Interim dividend up 15% to 0.474p (2002, 0.4125p)*
  
• Extensive activity across all three divisions of adult, reference and children's and international expansion in Germany and the USA
  
• Significant investment in titles, marketing and the development of German acquisition - benefits to come in second half and beyond
  
• Strong second half publishing list
  
• Well positioned for further growth. Board confident of a satisfactory outcome to the year

* Allowing for 1 for 4 share split

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

"The first half of 2003 was one of the busiest in the Group's history. We undertook a major launch schedule of new titles, established our presence in Germany through the acquisition of Berlin Verlag, and launched the fifth Harry Potter book

Bloomsbury has a well balanced portfolio which offers good opportunities for further growth. New and established authors from Ben Schott to JK Rowling are achieving highly visible success for the Group. The performance of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and its effect on increasing sales of the backlist ensures that this publishing phenomenon continues to grow in size and value. Cash flows generated from the Group's established operations will be used to develop new investments, the most recent of which is Berlin Verlag. Bloomsbury's publishing programme for the second half of the year is an exciting one and is the result of the Company's expertise in identifying potential bestsellers; and those titles are capable of generating not only substantial frontlist sales, but also backlist revenues in future years.

The Board remains confident of a satisfactory outcome to the year and beyond into 2004."

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