Bloomsbury shares tumble after publisher reveals lower profits
Bloomsbury shares have slumped after the publishing firm revealed weaker profits despite selling more books over the past year.
Shares in the Harry Potter publisher dropped by around 15% on Thursday morning.
The company revealed that pre-tax profits slipped by 22% to £32.5 million for the year to February 28, compared with the previous year.
Profits in the group's consumer books business declined for the year as bosses said it returned to 'a normalised level… following an exceptional performance' a year earlier.
Meanwhile, Bloomsbury saw revenues rise by 5% to £361 million for the year, although this reflected slower growth than the previous year.
The company said it benefited from expanding its consumer portfolio, which includes fantasy, cosy crime, cookery and other genres.
It pointed towards a strong release list for the new financial year, including the paperback releases of books by Sarah J Maas and Gillian Anderson.
Elsewhere, revenues in its non-consumer division, covering academic and professional publications, grew by 12% to £105 million.
This division was boosted by the firm's acquisition of US publisher Rowman & Littlefield last year.
On Thursday, founder and chief executive Nigel Newton also said that the business is pushing forward with opportunities to 'monetise academic content through AI deal in our authors' best interests'.
Bloomsbury indicated it is still on track with its targets for the current financial year.
Mr Newton added: 'Trading for 2025/26 is expected to be broadly in line with current consensus expectations in constant currency.'
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