Bloomsbury Publishing raised its guidance for full-year revenue and profit, pushing its shares up by more than a tenth as the pandemic fuelled demand for its books and online resources for academics.
The publisher behind the Harry Potter books said it expects profit before tax and other items in the year to February to “materially” exceed a company-compiled market consensus of £20.1m. It anticipates that revenue will “comfortably” surpass guidance of £197.1m.
After initially warning that lockdowns would hit book sales, Bloomsbury has benefited from the popularity of adult and children’s books throughout the pandemic. The publisher beat expectations to achieve profits of £19.2m in the year to February 2021.
The transition to online learning has led to a surge in subscriptions for the group’s online resources for academics, launched in 2016. Bloomsbury said on Wednesday that it has hit its target to generate £5m in annual profit from these services.
Shares in the company have risen more than 56 per cent since the start of the pandemic. They were recently up more than 11 per cent in early London trading.
