LONDON, Sept. 17, 2002 (PRIMEZONE) -- Bloomsbury Publishing Plc (LSE:BMY), one of Europe's leading independent publishing houses with a highly valuable portfolio of intellectual properties, is pleased to announce interim results for the six months ended June 30, 2002.
Highlights
-- Turnover: up 8.0% to 24.54m pounds (2001: 22.72m pounds) -- Operating margin before goodwill amortisation: increased to 10.7% (2001: 10.4%) -- Pretax profit before goodwill amortisation: up 9.8% to 3.13m pounds (2001: 2.85m pounds) -- Basic earnings per share before goodwill amortisation: up 9.6% to 12.82 pence (2001: 11.70 pence) -- Dividend: up 10% to 1.65 pence for the half-year (2001: 1.5 pence) -- Cash balances: up 59.9% to 24.96m pounds (June 30, 2001: 15.61m pounds) -- U.S. Children's list launched -- Launch of BUSINESS: The Ultimate Resource -- Strong Autumn fiction list
Nigel Newton, Chairman of Bloomsbury Publishing, commenting on the company's outlook, said: "During the first half of 2002 Bloomsbury developed its reference activities, an area which we predict will expand rapidly over the next few years. Existing databases were further exploited in both print and electronic formats and a new database was completed, leading to today's launch of BUSINESS: The Ultimate Resource. We have made four acquisitions this year, and have also signed up several established best-selling authors. None of the acquisitions have made a material contribution to operations for the first six months of this year.
The diversity of the group's operations has generated organic growth even during a period of economic uncertainty. Turnover increased 8.0% to 24.537m pounds, (2001: 22.721m pounds) on the back of a solid performance from A&C Black, the Adult and Children's list. The gross margin for the group was 46.5% (2001: 45.1%), which was due to strong sales of the Bloomsbury Adult list.
There will be a presentation to analysts today at 9:30 a.m. at Investec Securities, 2 Gresham Street, London, EC2.
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