Bloomsbury Publishing PLC (LSE:BMY), the group that released the Harry Potter series, will be hoping that a post-Covid spike that has lifted the group’s share price by close to 50% can continue in 2023.
The publisher's share price has faltered in the year-to-date dropping around 3%, but presenting a positive full-year update on Wednesday could help shift the stock back in an upward direction.
In a trading update in March, the UK company revealed revenues had reached £260mln and pre-tax profits were £30mln for the year to late February 2023.
Sales came in 7% ahead of the market consensus, while earnings achieved an 11.5% lift in comparison to City predictions.
One aspect of the group likely to be under the microscope is the non-consumer division and more specifically its Bloomsbury Digital Resources (BDR) arm.
In late 2021, the company acquired ABC-CLIO, a publisher of non-fiction and academic content used in schools, under this subdivision.
The deal was worth US$22.9mln and is expected to contribute “strong growth” to BDR.
BDR, which provides “award-winning digital resources in the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences”, has the potential to develop consistent revenue at a high margin, according to researchers at Peel Hunt.
Bloomsbury’s consumer side of the business may also spark intrigue for investors.
The group may offer insight into which books have performed well, having previously noted that Samantha Shannon’s A Day of Fallen Night had become a best-seller after release in February.
The Harry Potter publisher may also be pleased with the announcement that a TV version of the wizarding fantasy series is set to hit screens in the coming years, with the potential to persuade a new horde of watchers to pick up the source material.