Bloomsbury Publishing maintains full-year outlook as interim dividend rises 5%

Bloomsbury Publishing Plc (LON:BMY), the leading independent publisher, today announces unaudited results for the six months ended 31 August 2026.

Commenting on the results, Nigel Newton, Executive Chairman, said:

“Bloomsbury is celebrating its 40th anniversary since we founded the company in September 1986.  Bloomsbury has published over 200,000 titles, eight Nobel Prize winners, four Booker Prize winners and four winners of the Women’s Prize. 

Bloomsbury is pleased to report first half revenue of £151.6m with profit¹ of £16.8m and a strong start to the second half of the year, underpinning the Board’s confidence in delivering record results for the full year.

The Consumer Division growth is weighted to the second half with scheduled releases from many of our bestselling authors. September started with bestsellers from Gillian Anderson with More and Stephen Graham with Letters to Our Sons. We are excited to be launching two hugely anticipated new novels from Sarah J. Maas and HBO Max will launch J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series on Christmas Day, introducing the series to an expanded readership.

In the Academic & Professional Division, we are seeing good underlying growth in all territories and in both print and digital. Bloomsbury continues to benefit from ongoing AI licensing revenue in 2026/27.

In September 2026, we announced a five-year leadership succession plan providing long-term continuity and stability for Bloomsbury’s shareholders, authors and colleagues.

In recognition of the strong net cash position and our confidence in the outlook, the Board declares an interim dividend up 5% year on year to 4.28 pence.

Bloomsbury has an unbroken 31-year track record of dividend growth every year since flotation in 1994. £10,000 invested in Bloomsbury at flotation in 1994 would be worth £624,000 with dividends reinvested.

The Board looks to the current year with confidence in delivering record results in 2026/27, in line with expectations.”

Financial Highlights

• Group revenue of £151.6m (H1 2025/26: £159.5m)
• Group Adjusted Profit (before taxation and highlighted items¹) of £16.8m (H1 2025/26: £24.0m)
• Additional $10m repayment of Rowman & Littlefield acquisition loan in H1 2026/27
• Net cash is £22.8m; capital allocation priorities are organic growth, dividends and acquisitions
• Interim dividend increased by 5% year on year to 4.28p per share (H1 2025/26: 4.08p per share)
• Bloomsbury will be a beneficiary of the Anthropic settlement – we are continuing to work through the outcome of the settlement and will provide a further update in due course

Operational Highlights

• Five-year leadership succession plan announced with a new Chief Executive in two years’ time and Nigel Newton retained as Executive Chairman to ensure continuity
• Good progress with new streamlined and simplified organisational structure operating effectively
• Internal AI usage increased; rolled out Gemini Enterprise and agentic workflows
• Working capital improvement has been driven by good progress on stock decreases

Consumer Division Highlights

• Consumer revenue of £102.8m (H1 2025/26: £113.4m), with growth weighted to the second half
• Adjusted Profit¹ of £9.8m (H1 2025/26: £13.4m) with margin of 9.5% (H1 2025/26: 11.8%)
• Margin 11.6% excl. Special Interest; sale processes of Who’s Who and Osprey Board Games begun
• Bestsellers included Alex Aster’s Starside and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s High Fibre Heroes
• Gillian Anderson’s More and Stephen Graham’s Letters to Our Sons were Sunday Times bestsellers
• Sarah J. Maas new novels A Court of Splintered Harmony and A Court of Forgotten Melody will be released on 27 October 2026 and 12 January 2027, respectively
• HBO’s Christmas Day launch of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series will have a new TV tie-in edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, reaching a new generation of readers

Academic & Professional (A&P) Division Highlights

• A&P revenue is up 5.9% to £48.8m (H1 2025/26: £46.1m), showing encouraging signs of recovery
• Underlying growth in all territories and in both print and digital formats (excluding AI licensing)
• Continuation of our non-exclusive AI licensing agreement, though to a lesser quantum leading to a reduced margin
• Adjusted Profit¹ of £6.8m (H1 2025/26: £11.0m) with margin of 13.9% (H1 2025/26: 23.9%)

Notes

1.                     Adjusted Profit is profit before taxation and highlighted items. Highlighted items comprise amortisation of acquired intangible assets and legal and other professional costs relating to ongoing and completed acquisitions, integration and restructuring costs.
2.                     Net cash is cash and cash equivalents less borrowings.

Bloomsbury will be hosting a meeting for analysts and Shareholders at 9 am which is available via this link: https://sparklive.lseg.com/BloomsburyPublishing/events/6dcc8c9c-68ef-428e-92d2-4ed96d9ab87d/bloomsbury-interim-results

Executive Chairman’s Statement

Overview

Bloomsbury achieved H1 2026/27 revenue of £151.6m and Adjusted Profit of £16.8m with a margin of 11.1%. We have successfully pursued our long-term strategy of combining consumer and academic publishing which has created a portfolio of portfolios – a model that continues to provide Bloomsbury with diversification and resilient success.

We are progressing with key operational changes to support growth and enhance profitability through financial efficiencies. In April 2026, we announced a restructuring with which we have taken the first steps to simplify and streamline our structure. This has enhanced agility, accountability and positions the Company for continued expansion.

Group Financials

Bloomsbury’s revenue was £151.6m (H1 2025/26: £159.5m) and Adjusted Profit was £16.8m (H1 2025/26: £24.0m). Profit before taxation was £9.3m (H1 2025/26: £18.3m).

Highlighted items totalled £7.5m (H1 2025/26: £5.7m) comprising amortisation of acquired intangible assets of £4.3m (H1 2025/26: £4.5m) and one-off integration and restructuring costs of £3.2m (H1 2025/26: £1.2m).

The effective rate of tax for the six months was 24.7% (H1 2025/26: 24.6%), with an adjusted effective rate of tax, excluding highlighted items, of 19.0% (H1 2025/26: 21.7%). Net finance costs were £0.3m (H1 2025/26: £0.7m).

Adjusted diluted earnings per share were 16.67p (H1 2025/26: 22.98p) and diluted earnings per share 8.58p (H1 2025/26: 16.79p).

The interim dividend will increase by 5% to 4.28p per share (H1 2025/26: 4.08p per share).

Bloomsbury has a strong net cash position of £22.8m at 31 August 2026 (H1 2025/26: £2.4m). This consists of cash of £30.1m and a term loan of £7.3m. We have repaid $27.5m of the debt associated with the acquisition of Rowman & Littlefield, $10.0m of which was in H1 2026/27. The remaining $10m loan matures in May 2027.  

Consumer Division

The Consumer Division consists of Adult, Young Adult, Children’s and Special Interest publishing. Consumer revenue was £102.8m (H1 2025/26: £113.4m) and Adjusted Profit was £9.8m (H1 2025/26: £13.4m) with a margin of 9.5% (H1 2025/26: 11.8%). The margin would have been 11.6% excluding Special Interest and we announced the decision to sell Who’s Who and Osprey Games earlier this year. Profit before taxation was £9.5m (H1 2025/26: £13.1m).

In the first half of 2026/27, Alex Aster’s Starside and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s High Fibre Heroes were Sunday Times bestsellers. Other notable successes have been Ann Patchett’s Whistler, the latest in Sheena Dempsey’s bestselling Pablo & Splash series Viking Voyage, and Katherine Rundell’s The Neverfear, the third in the five book Impossible Creatures series.

Growth is second half weighted and the new novels for H2 2026/27 include many of our bestselling authors. In September, Gillian Anderson’s follow-up to Want, titled More, and Stephen Graham’s Letters to Our Sons, became instant Sunday Times bestsellers. Sarah J. Maas’ much anticipated next two novels in the A Court of Thorns and Roses (‘ACOTAR’) series, A Court of Splintered Harmony and A Court of Forgotten Melody, will be published on 27 October 2026 and 12 January 2027, respectively.

HBO will release their series of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter on Christmas Day, ensuring a huge family audience. Non-traditional book retailers, including major supermarkets, have placed orders for Bloomsbury’s new TV tie-in edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone with a stunning film-based jacket, creating the opportunity for the series to reach a large new generation of readers. In addition, a new illustrated edition, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince – Illustrated, was published on 6 October 2026. The Pocket Potters series began with Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger – followed by Hagrid and Dobby in August 2026 and Fred & George Weasley to be published in February 2027.

Academic & Professional Division

The Academic & Professional Division (A&P) consists of academic and professional publishing. A&P showed encouraging signs of recovery as revenue increased by 5.9% to £48.8m (H1 2025/26: £46.1m), with underlying growth in all territories and in both print and digital (excluding AI licensing) in the first half. The intellectual property value and quality of our academic list enabled us to continue our non-exclusive AI licensing agreement in 2026/27, though to a lesser quantum leading to a reduced margin. Adjusted Profit was £6.8m (H1 2025/26: £11.0m) with a margin of 13.9% (H1 2025/26: 23.9%). Profit before taxation was £2.8m (H1 2025/26: £6.8m).

Our partnership with Google has enabled us to experiment with new forms of content discovery, including the use of AI-driven search within our digital archive resources.

We have also taken part in piloting Google’s new Expert Intelligence initiative which launched in August 2026, enabling users to interact with trusted expert content through Google’s AI tools. Within Google Gemini Notebook, users can import eligible purchased ebooks containing trusted publisher content and then ask questions about that content, receive cited responses, and generate personal study aids.

Bloomsbury has two featured Notebooks on Google’s platform, How to Study and What is Philosophy?. These have driven strong engagement, with How to Study evolving into a highly successful study coach, attracting 568,000 readers. This has increased visibility of our content and authors while also strengthening brand awareness.

We have expanded our business in Asia by opening an office in Singapore as a hub to further capitalise on the projected growth in the student population in the region, building on the success of our established offices in Australia and India. Via our newly established Singapore office we are developing a new Asia Studies digital publishing vertical, establishing strong relations with key institutions and, following a successful round of meetings at Beijing International Book Fair, have made progress in advancing publishing partnerships with several major publishing houses in China.

Anthropic

The Group is a Class Member in the U.S. copyright class action lawsuit (Bartz et al. v. Anthropic PBC), in which the U.S. District Court for the Northern District for California ruled that Anthropic faced liability for downloading pirated books to build and maintain a central library. On 20 July 2026, the Court granted final approval of a Class-wide Settlement Agreement under which Anthropic PBC agreed to establish a total settlement fund of $1.5 billion to resolve claims relating to such actions. The Group has submitted claims to the Settlement Administrator in accordance with the terms of the Settlement Agreement, and is currently working through the settlement process.

Acquisitions

Bloomsbury has a successful track record in strategic acquisitions, with 34 completed to date. We will continue to assess further acquisition opportunities.

Dividend

The interim dividend will increase by 5% to 4.28p per share (H1 2025/26: 4.08p). The interim dividend will be paid on 27 November 2026 to Shareholders on the register on the record date of 30 October 2026. Bloomsbury reiterates its intention to increase the dividend for the full year in-line with market expectations.

Board Changes

In April 2026, we announced the appointment of Jenny Ridout to Bloomsbury’s Board as an Executive Director. Jenny will continue leading our Academic & Professional Division.

Bloomsbury also announced the appointment of Chris Blatchford to its Board as a Non-Executive Director, effective from 19 May 2026. Chris is Chief Technology Officer at Kingfisher plc, and was formerly Chief Technology Officer for Research at Elsevier. Baroness Lola Young retired from the Board at the conclusion of the 2026 Annual General Meeting.

In September, we announced the five-year leadership succession plan. Nigel Newton became Executive Chairman, and a new Chief Executive will be appointed in two years’ time. Nigel Newton will remain as Executive Chairman for the first three years of their tenure to support key strategic relationships and ensure a smooth and successful transition. At the conclusion of the five-year succession plan, Nigel Newton will become Non-Executive Chairman.

John Bason moved from Chairman to Deputy Chairman as well as becoming Senior Independent Director with enhanced responsibilities. The Chief Executive appointment process will be led by John Bason as Chair of the Nomination Committee and will consider internal and external candidates.

Current Trading and Outlook

The Board looks to the current year with confidence in delivering record results in line with Adjusted Profit expectations.

Bloomsbury’s portfolio of portfolios strategy, our authors, customers and the scale and resilience of our business continue to underpin the confidence we have in the future.

Note

The Board considers consensus market expectation (before this publication) for the year ending 28 February 2027 to be revenue of £354.3m and Adjusted Profit of £49.9m.