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£3.5 million Bloomsbury puts faith in Buffett
Simon English, Evening Standard29.08.08
Bloomsbury reckons a new biography of Warren Buffett will help it thrive in a post-Harry Potter world. The group behind the JK Rowling phenomenon saw profits in the halfyear to June rise 6% to £3.5 million.
Chief executive Nigel Newton says Alice Schroeder's The Snowball - a new take on investment guru Buffett - will do extremely well.
Bloomsbury is also pushing a novel called The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Rowling's new work The Tales of Beedle the Bard.
First-half sales slumped by more than £10 million to £42 million but the group improved margins by cutting costs and paying less tax, largely thanks to a fall in corporation tax.
Don'ts For Husbands and Don'ts For Wives have been selling strongly all year, allowing Bloomsbury to expand the range. Don'ts For Golfers was published in May and Don'ts For Dancers will follow shortly.
Bloomsbury shares have avoided the worst of the stock-market downturn this year, and were today up 2¼p at 168p.
Dresdner Kleinwort says the stock has a high valuation compared with that of rivals but "the outlook looks healthy".
Bloomsbury says it is looking to buy up academic publishers and has several possible deals in the offing.
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