Growing fiction sales and an expansion into academic publishing are set to help Bloomsbury report annual trading ahead of market expectations.
The London-listed publisher has benefited from strong demand for “romantasy” fiction, with sales of the bestselling author Sarah J Maas driving up revenues as customers purchase copies of her popular series A Court of Thorn and Roses and Crescent City.
Analysts had expected Bloomsbury to report a 2 per cent decline in revenues to £333.4 million for the year to February 28 and a 20 per cent fall in pre-tax profits to £39.6 million.
Nigel Newton, the chief executive of Bloomsbury, said: “Fiction is booming for us in general. It has been one of the traditional strengths of the company for 38 years now.”
He added that in the UK the publishing industry “stands in a position of great strength. We’re underpinned by a very strong UK book trade”.
Bloomsbury has made a habit of overdelivering on its forecasts as the publisher continues to benefit from a strong interest in reading following a boom during the pandemic. The Harry Potter publisher said revenues had been boosted by a strong performance in the second half of the year.
The mid-cap company has continued to target expansion in its academic and digital resources divisions as a growing number of university students use online tools for studying. It said that Bloomsbury Digital Resources grew during the year despite the budgetary pressures in the publisher’s core academic markets.
The publisher also benefited from a recent acquisition after it bought Rowman & Littlefield, the American academic publishing business, in May 2024 for £65 million.
• Bloomsbury Publishing isn’t about to lose its magic
Newton said: “That’s provided a huge surge in sales for us. It’s been a brilliant acquisition for us … The integration is going extremely well.”
The acquisition also boosts the publisher’s presence in the United States and is set to make the country Bloomsbury’s largest market. The publisher first launched its American business in 1998.
“America is the biggest English language book market in the world and we’ve made a number of strategic moves to accelerate our growth there,” Newton said.
Bloomsbury was founded in 1986 by its current chief executive Nigel Newton. The publisher floated on the London Stock Exchange in 1994.
• Bloomsbury book sales hit record high
Analysts at Peel Hunt, the broker, said: “Bloomsbury continued its ‘meet and beat’ trajectory in the 2025 financial year, despite the strong comparable in the 2024 financial year and the subdued academic trading backdrop.
“We believe market expectations remain on the conservative side, without accounting for potential positive catalysts, such as a new Sarah J. Maas book release,” they added.
Shares in Bloomsbury rose 20p, or 3.4 per cent, to close at 600p.
