Bloomsbury Publishing PLC (LON:BMY) shares rose on Tuesday as the publisher of the Harry Potter blockbusters said trading in the fiscal year just ended was in line with the board's expectations.
The FTSE All-Share listed group said its Non-Consumer Academic and Professional division continued its strong performance in the year to the end of February, seeing organic growth in revenue and an improvement in margins.
WATCH: Bloomsbury Publishing's Nigel Newton discusses trading and bestsellers
In the Special Interest division, February included the international bestseller In the Closet of the Vatican, by Frédéric Martel.
The Consumer division delivered a number of bestsellers in the second half of the fiscal year, including Sarah Maas's Kingdom of Ash, Tom Kerridge's Fresh Start and Mary Pipher's Women Rowing North.
In a note to clients, analysts at Peel Hunt said: “Bloomsbury continues to show strong cash generation with net cash expected to be c£27m at the end of FY19.”
They pointed out that Bloomsbury shares trade on 14 times its full-year 2010 price ratings ratio (PER), and repeated a ‘buy’ rating and 270p price target on the stock.
In early afternoon trading, shares in Bloomsbury Publishing were 6.2% higher at 240p.
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