Press releases & announcements

30th March 2005

Preliminary Results for the Year Ended 31 December 2004

Highlights

• Pre-tax profit before goodwill amortisation and exceptional gain increased 6.9% to £16.44m (2003, £15.38m).

• Three number one bestsellers in 2004 in the US, the UK and Germany reflect the growing strength and breadth of the international publishing portfolio.

• Basic earnings per share before goodwill amortisation and exceptional gain increased 5% to 17.28p (2003, 16.45p). 

• Final dividend increased 47.8% to 2.478p (2003, 1.677p). Full year dividend increased by 39.5% to 3.00p (2003, 2.151p).

• Investment in future titles at the year endup 25.5% at £20.85m (2003, £16.61m).

• Board anticipates strong outcome for 2005. Portfolio breadth and geographical spread, together with new Harry Potter to be published in July, provide confidence in future prospects.

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

“2004 reflected Bloomsbury’s emergence as a fully fledged international publisher with an established position in the world's three largest book markets of the US, UK and Germany, where we had number one bestsellers in all three markets. In recent years we have also worked hard to extend our portfolio of authors and to build our reputation for finding new, first-time writers like Susanna Clarke, author of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, who achieve considerable success with their first book.

Bloomsbury will show significant progress in 2005, with the publication of new titles by JK Rowling, John Irving and Ben Schott, and paperbacks of our 2004 hardcover bestsellers The Two of Us and Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell. This year started well with a number of our strongest titles such as Who’s Who released in the first weeks of the year, two new books in the bestseller lists and pre-orders for the forthcoming Harry Potter hardback substantially higher than originally anticipated. As a consequence the Group is expected to perform ahead of our original expectation for 2005 and the Board anticipates that profit before tax and goodwill will be not less than £20 million.”

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