Trading Update

Revenue and profit significantly ahead of upgraded expectations. New Bloomsbury US President appointed.

Bloomsbury Publishing Plc (LSE: BMY), the leading independent publisher, is pleased to announce the following update on trading.

Full year outlook

Ø Revenue and profit before taxation and highlighted items are now expected to be significantly ahead of upgraded market expectations for the year ending 29 February 2024.

Ø The Board considers that the consensus market expectation for the year ending 29 February 2024 is currently revenue of £291.4 million and profit before taxation and highlighted items of £37.2 million.

Highlights

Ø The Consumer division has delivered exceptional growth driven in part by the publication on 30th January of Sarah J. Maas novel House of Flame and Shadow which reached Number 1 in the US, UK, Australia and many markets around the world.

Ø The publication of her latest novel has also driven demand for her previous 15 books which Bloomsbury has published throughout the world in the English language. Bloomsbury has a further 6 titles under contract with Sarah J. Maas.

Ø Fantasy has become extremely popular around the world. According to Nielsen Bookscan, in the UK the Fantasy and Sci-Fi genre has grown by 54% in the last five years. Bloomsbury publishes Sarah J. Maas and also fantasy bestselling author Samantha Shannon, Women's Prize winner Susanna Clarke, the iconic Alan Moore, and Cixin Liu, whose Three Body Problem trilogy film adaptation is being released with huge fanfare by Netflix on March 21st, produced by Game of Thrones' David Benioff and D.B. Weiss.

Ø Bloomsbury is investing further in fantasy writing on the newly launched Bloomsbury General list.

Ø Other important recent bestsellers are:

• Ghosts, the bestselling companion book to the BBC smash hit television series,
• Poppy Cooks: The Actually Delicious Air Fryer Cookbook by Poppy O'Toole,
• Pub Kitchen by Tom Kerridge,
• The House of Doors by Tan Twan Eng in the US,
• The Harry Potter Wizarding Almanac, the official companion to J.K. Rowling's books,
• We're Going on a Sleigh Ride by Martha Mumford and Cherie Zamazing and
• Impossible Creatures by Katherine Rundell; a Number 1 bestseller in the UK market and chosen as The Waterstones Book of the Year 2023.

Ø Bloomsbury has appointed Sabrina McCarthy President of Bloomsbury US, starting at the beginning of April. She will also serve on Bloomsbury's global Executive Committee. McCarthy brings experience of general and academic publishing, joining from Ingram Publisher Services where she is Vice President and General Manager. Over the last eight years, she has overseen six distribution brands as well as the domestic, international print and digital sales teams, and the business operations team.

Nigel Newton, Chief Executive, commented: "I am overjoyed to report an exceptionally strong period of trading, principally driven by the increasing demand for fantasy fiction. Sarah J. Maas is a publishing phenomenon and we are very fortunate to have signed her up with her first book 13 years ago. Her books have a huge audience which continues to grow backed by major Bloomsbury promotional campaigns, driving strong word of mouth recommendation, particularly through TikTok and Instagram channels."

The Company will provide further details for the year ended 29 February 2024 with its preliminary results announcement on 23 May 2024.

The information contained within this announcement is deemed by the Group to constitute inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulations (EU) No. 596/2014 ("MAR"). Upon the publication of this announcement via a Regulatory Information Service ("RIS"), this inside information is now considered to be in the public domain.