Bloomsbury ups profit outlook again after success of Sarah Maas’s bestseller

Soaring sales of the new novel by fantasy author Sarah Maas has helped publisher Bloomsbury increase its profit outlook for the second time in just over two months.

The group said profits are set to be “materially” ahead of already upgraded expectations for the year to the end of February thanks to strong consumer book sales, and after it also overcame ongoing print supply challenges.

Bloomsbury cheered “exceptional” sales in the final month of its financial year, which it largely put down to demand for Maas’s number one global bestseller House Of Sky And Breath.

It said other strong sellers included What I Wish People Knew About Dementia by Wendy Mitchell, Violeta by Isabel Allende and The Leviathan by Rosie Andrews, as well as solid demand for existing titles such as the Harry Potter series, previous books by Sarah Maas and the TikTok sensation Madeline Miller’s Song Of Achilles.

This has put the group on track to “comfortably” beat its £212.5 million in expected sales.

The group had been expected to deliver annual underlying pre-tax profits of £22.3 million for the year.

Nigel Newton, Bloomsbury chief executive, said: “In February, the final month of our financial year, Bloomsbury delivered exceptional sales, in part driven by Sarah J Maas’s new title, Crescent City: House Of Sky And Breath, which was a global number one bestseller.

“Alongside this strong performance, we successfully mitigated ongoing print supply chain challenges, including printing titles earlier than usual and being flexible about where we print.”

It comes after Bloomsbury posted record sales and profits in the first half of the year, with the group revealing book retailers stocked up early to avoid any Christmas disruption.

This helped revenues leap 29% higher to £100.7 million in the half-year to August 31.

The group’s financial year also saw it reach performance milestones for its digital resources business, which supplies universities and other academic institutions.

Bloomsbury said it had beaten the target announced when the division was set up in 2016 for it to make £15 million of sales and £5 million of profit by 2021-22.