Bloomsbury Publishing (LON: BMY) reported first-half Adjusted Profit of £16.8m, down 30.0% from £24.0m. Pre-tax profit fell to £9.3m from £18.3m, and revenue slipped to £151.6m from £159.5m.
The shares stood at 631p by 9.23am, down 6.1% from yesterday’s close of 672p, after opening at 645p and touching a low of 610p. The announcement, released at 7am, does not tie the move to the results.
The steepest drop came in Academic and Professional, where revenue rose 5.9% to £48.8m but Adjusted Profit fell 38.2% to £6.8m. Its margin shrank to 13.9% from 23.9% because the non-exclusive AI licensing agreement continues in 2026/27 at a lower value. Rights and services income fell to £6.8m from £13.8m.
Consumer revenue fell 9.3% to £102.8m and its Adjusted Profit fell 26.9% to £9.8m. The company says growth in that division is weighted to the second half, and it has begun sale processes for Who’s Who and Osprey Games.
Adjusted Profit is profit before tax excluding highlighted items, which rose to £7.5m from £5.7m. Integration and restructuring costs, linked to the restructuring announced in April, made up £3.2m of them, against £1.2m a year earlier. That explains why pre-tax profit fell further than Adjusted Profit.
| Measure | H1 2026/27 | H1 2025/26 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | £151.6m | £159.5m | -5.0% |
| Adjusted Profit | £16.8m | £24.0m | -30.0% |
| Pre-tax profit | £9.3m | £18.3m | -49.2% |
| Adjusted diluted EPS | 16.67p | 22.98p | -27.5% |
Net cash rose to £22.8m from £2.4m, and the interim dividend rises 5% to 4.28p. Executive Chairman Nigel Newton pointed to the book calendar for the rest of the year.
The Consumer Division growth is weighted to the second half with scheduled releases from many of our bestselling authors.
Nigel Newton, Executive Chairman, Bloomsbury
Bloomsbury is also a class member in the Bartz v. Anthropic case, where the court gave final approval on the 20th of July to a $1.5bn settlement fund. The company has booked nothing, says the amount and timing are uncertain, and says it will be a beneficiary.
The board expects record 2026/27 results in line with expectations. Consensus for the year to the end of February is Adjusted Profit of £49.9m, which implies about £33.1m in the second half against £20.9m a year earlier. Maas’s A Court of Splintered Harmony publishes next Tuesday, and the dividend is payable on the 27th of November to holders on the register next Friday.