Regulatory announcements

Trading for the first quarter of the new financial year has been in line with our expectations. In the three months ended 31 May 2015 total revenues are up by 13% year on year. On a like for like basis, excluding the results of Osprey Publishing, which we acquired in December 2014, total revenues for the quarter were up by 5% year on year, driven mainly by our Children's & Educational division. This quarter traditionally generates the smallest profit of any quarter in our financial year.

In our Academic & Professional division, from October 2015 our leading study platform Drama Online will exclusively stream a new collection of twenty filmed stage productions of the major works of Shakespeare from Shakespeare's Globe theatre. The content will also feature educational media company, Stage on Screen's filmed productions of key set plays and the film version of the Manchester Royal Exchange's production of Maxine Peake's Hamlet. These new content partnerships will follow the release this year of 350 audio plays from L. A. Theatre Works in July and 350 playtexts from Nick Hern Books in September, taking the total content in Drama Online to above 2,000 titles.

We are on schedule to publish the Illustrated Edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone on 6 October. Rights in the illustrations have already been sold in 24 languages.

The results for the six months ending 31 August 2015 will be announced on 27 October 2015.

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