Bloomsbury Publishing : Acquisition of IBT Tauris & Co. Limited

01st May 2018

Acquisition of IBT Tauris & Co. Limited

Bloomsbury Publishing Plc ('Bloomsbury') announces that it has today completed the acquisition of the entire issued share capital of IBT Tauris & Co. Limited ('IBT' or the 'Acquisition'), the London-based academic publisher. The consideration was £5.8 million, of which £4.8m was satisfied in cash at completion and up to £1.0m will be paid post-completion, subject to working capital and other adjustments.

IBT has a world-leading list in Middle East Studies, History, Politics and International Relations. Other subject areas in which it has a sizeable presence are Visual Culture, Classics, Ancient History and Religion. IBT has a back list of 4,000 titles and publishes about 200 new titles annually. Around 90% of sales are in print, so there is significant potential to grow digital revenues. IBT titles will be included within Bloomsbury's digital resources. The business will operate within Bloomsbury's Academic & Professional division.

IBT generated £4.3* million of revenue in the year ended 31 December 2017. There are opportunities for profit enhancements following the integration of the business into Bloomsbury. The Acquisition is expected to make a small profit in its first year, before reorganisation and acquisition costs, then be earnings enhancing thereafter. It will contribute approximately £3.5 million of revenue to Bloomsbury in the year ending 28 February 2019.

Nigel Newton, Chief Executive of Bloomsbury commented:

'The acquisition of IBT consolidates our significant presence in humanities and social science academic publishing. IBT's complementary lists have good growth potential, especially with their inclusion within Bloomsbury's Digital Resources strategy. This acquisition represents another key step in our strategy to continue to grow quality recurring revenues through our digital resource offering.'

Notes:

1. * signifies that these numbers are unaudited.
2. The statement in this announcement regarding the enhancement of earnings does not constitute a profit forecast nor should it be interpreted as meaning that the earnings of Bloomsbury for the current or future years will necessarily match or exceed the historical published earnings of Bloomsbury.

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