Saturday, August 30, 2008

BLOOMSBURY RESULTS

· Profit before investment income increased 6.1% to £3.5m (2007, £3.3m)
· Investment income increased to £1.9m (2007, £0.6m)
· Earnings per share increased 41.2% to 4.97 pence (2007, 3.52 pence)
· Interim dividend up 7.1% to 0.75p per share (2007, 0.70p)

· Strong list for second half including Alice Schroeder’s biography of Warren Buffet; The Snowball; Just Me by Sheila Hancock; The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer; and, on December 4, JK Rowling’s The Tales of Beedle The Bard
· Net cash balances increased by 13.0% to £53.8m (31 December 2007, £47.6m)
· Well positioned for further organic and acquisition-related growth
· Strongest ever first six months sales performance from the UK Adult trade division

Commenting on the results and prospects for Bloomsbury, Nigel Newton, Chief Executive, said:
“We have had a good first half performance, particularly, in the UK Adult and Specialist Divisions. As well as continuing to enjoy notable success from long-running bestselling titles such as The Kite Runner, we are also well positioned with strong publishing lists for the second half and beyond. We are now seeing the benefits of our focused strategy, which is positioning us well for the rest of the financial year and the longer term.”

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