AGM Statement

Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
28 June 2007

Not to be released by RNS until 7am Thursday 28th June, 2007


28 June 2007

                           Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

                                 AGM Statement


  • Six point development strategy progressing well
  • 24 bestsellers worldwide so far this year
  • Long-term reference rights licence deals completed
  • Export pre-orders for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows ahead of total
    export sales for the previous book
  • Major acquisitions being pursued


At today's AGM of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, Nigel Newton, Chairman, will make
the following statement:

'At the time of our preliminary results in April, we indicated that the strategy
of the Group is focused on six areas which build on our existing strengths and
develop new opportunities. The key elements of our strategy are to:


-          generate content, particularly in new digital areas, and from
           television and film;

-          build new author relationships and content;

-          exploit our geographic reach;

-          develop greater revenues from our current stable of authors;

-          pioneer web-based initiatives; and

-          undertake acquisitions.



Since the company's preliminary statement on 3rd April, we have made substantial
progress in realising the benefits of these strategic objectives - leveraging
our international businesses, expanding our programme in the US and publishing
bestsellers. These initiatives will help underpin the long-term success of the
business between 2008-2012.



Reference Rights Contracts Update

We have recently signed new long-term reference contracts with Oxford University
Press, Microsoft and ProQuest.


The agreement with OUP is for an online version of Who's Who. Commencing in
December 2007, the 2008 edition of Who's Who and the historical archive of Who's
Who will be published online on a dedicated website combined with OUP's
Dictionary of National Biography. The agreement is for ten years for this major
collaboration of two of the greatest biographical works in reference publishing.


The long-term agreement with Microsoft is for the license of electronic rights
to a reference database and extends Bloomsbury's relationship with Microsoft
dating from the publication online and in print of the Encarta World English
Dictionary in 1999.


We have also negotiated renewal of an agreement with ProQuest for Whitaker's
Almanack in KnowUK - this new agreement allows Whitaker's content to be offered
by them until 2011.


An important reference rights deal for the Finance - The Ultimate Resource
on-line and print database, which was announced in our preliminary statement of
3rd April, is under negotiation with a preferred party - a leading international
financial organisation.  A second party, a major American financial information
provider, is also interested.  This is a truly exciting project which will
address a huge market and generate revenues for the next 10 years and beyond.



TV and Film Tie-Ins

Television and film tie-ins include David Dimbleby's book How We Built Britain,
currently being broadcast on BBC One on Sunday nights, which has reached the
Sunday Times top 10 bestseller list. In January next year, the film of The Kite
Runner will be released in the UK, which will drive further sales in 2008 of
what is already an immensely successful book.



Bloomsbury USA

We announced on 1st June a new imprint in America to be called Bloomsbury Press
which will specialise in non-fiction publishing in history, politics, economics
and business, science, and philosophy. Bloomsbury Press will publish 20 new
hardcover titles per annum and will develop its own list of trade paperbacks.
Bloomsbury Press already has 22 titles under contract, with the first eleven to
be launched during the first half of 2008.



Bloomsbury Germany

 In Berlin, our established backlist title, Fugitive Pieces by Anne Michaels was
featured on the influential Elke Heidenreich TV show on Tuesday night.  We have
had six bestsellers in Germany so far this year, including the TV tie-in title
Die Flucht by Tatjana Grafin Donhoff.



New Bestsellers

We have major current UK bestsellers including the number 1 bestseller A
Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini, author of the 1.1 million copy
selling The Kite Runner, a history bestseller in Austerity Britain by David
Kynaston and from A&C Black, the surprise hit Do's and Don'ts for Husbands and
Wives.



New Prizes

On Tuesday last week, Rajiv Chandrasekaran won Britain's top award for
non-fiction, the Samuel Johnson Prize with Imperial Life in the Emerald City
about life in the Green Zone in Baghdad, the prize-giving was televised on the
BBC.  Will Davis's My Side of the Story won the Betty Trask Prize, the previous
winners of which include Zadie Smith, Kiran Desai, Alex Garland and John
Lanchester.  The Last Mughal by William Dalrymple won the Duff Cooper Prize.
Restless by William Boyd won the Costa Novel of the Year Prize.  We have also
recently launched books by Pope Benedict XVI, Gordon Brown and Al Gore.



21st Anniversary

In September, coinciding with the 21st anniversary of the founding of Bloomsbury
on 26th September 1986, we will be focussing on sales of the special collection
of paperback editions of 21 milestone Bloomsbury titles to celebrate the
outstanding authors we publish.



Harry Potter

On 21st July, we will launch the seventh and final Harry Potter book Harry
Potter and the Deathly Hallows. As in previous years, export orders will be
invoiced and despatched before 30 June. These orders are 17% ahead of the total
export sales of the previous book. We will launch the boxed set editions of the
complete series of all seven Harry Potters on 1st October, 2007, and the
paperback edition of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in 2008.



Internet Promotions

In a web-based initiative, Bloomsbury created a Look Inside widget that was
adopted within hours of the announcement of the Samuel Johnson prize for
Imperial Life in the Emerald City by www.bbc.co.uk- a powerful marketing
initiative, which harnessed the BBC's high website traffic.  The digitisation
programme is well underway and Look Inside widgets are proving to be a
successful viral marketing tool for our books.



Acquisitions

We have been working hard this year in pursuing potential acquisitions and the
company is actively considering a number of opportunities.



Outlook - 2007 and beyond

The above news is good, but the Board will not be giving 2007 guidance in view
of the fact that, as the past indicates, it is 'not done until it is done', and
many market factors in the second half are by definition unpredictable.  A
number of Bloomsbury, A&C Black, Bloomsbury USA and Berlin titles are selling
well in what continues to be a difficult market.


In the medium and long term, Bloomsbury is guided by a clear development
strategy which will support its development.  We are confident that the building
blocks for Bloomsbury's future are in place - a future where our core expertise
will continue to play a fundamental role, namely publishing, in whatever form,
books of the highest possible quality, with content which excites and pleases
readers.  This will make them more loyal and supportive, thus helping us
continue to attract the best possible talent in authors, editors and third-party
partners, so that we can realise our strategic goals with creativity and flair.



ENDS



Enquiries



Nigel Newton, Chief Executive or Colin Adams, Finance Director

Bloomsbury Publishing Plc                           020 7494 2111


Tim Spratt or Charlie Palmer, Financial Dynamics    020 7831 3113



Note to Editors


Bloomsbury was founded 21 years ago by its chief executive Nigel Newton, based
on the principle of publishing books of excellence and originality for a wide
market. The company undertook a full stock exchange listing in London in 1994
and has since expanded its publishing categories and geographical reach. Today,
Bloomsbury has three divisions - adult, children's and reference - which span
the world's three largest book markets of the USA, Germany and the UK, where the
Company has established offices.

Bloomsbury has a strong reputation in developing new authors - Anthony Bourdain,
David Guterson, Anne Michaels, J.K.Rowling, Will Self and Ben Schott - and in
publishing established ones, including, Margaret Atwood, John Irving, Jay
McInerney, Michael Ondaatje, Donna Tartt, Joanna Trollope and Benjamin
Zephaniah. The company is well recognized for its ability to identify new
authors, and employing highly professional sales and marketing skills to publish
their books to maximum effect. With a worldwide library of over 11,500 titles,
Bloomsbury also exploits a valuable backlist, publishing regular repeat authors.
 It also develops major information databases for electronic and print
publication.

Bloomsbury's books are increasingly linked to television and film tie-ins,
including The English Patient, Snow Falling on Cedars, the first four Harry
Potter titles (with the fifth film to have its premiere on 3rd July) and on TV,
David Dimbleby's How We Built Britain, The Only Boy for Me by Gil McNeil, and
the forthcoming The Wild Gourmets by Guy Grieve and Thomasina Miers.
Bloomsbury's bestseller, The Kite Runner, will be released as a major film in
the UK in 2008.

2007 bestsellers and database agreements
Country                     Title of 2007 Bestsellers
UK                          Restless by William Boyd

                            A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

                            How We Built Britain by David Dimbleby

                            Austerity Britain by David Kynaston

                            Jesus of Nazareth by Pope Benedict XVI

                            Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by JK Rowling

                            Physik by Angie Sage

                            Princess Academy by Shannon Hale


USA                         Waiting for Daisy by Peggy Orenstein,

                            Medicus by Ruth Downie

                            Princess Academy by Shannon Hale

                            Gone Wild by David McLimans

                            Nasty Bits by Anthony Bourdain

                            Real Food by Nina Plank

                            Highest Tide by Jim Lynch

                            Lemon Tree by Sandy Tolan

                            Austenland by Shannon Hale

                            Kiki Strike by Kirsten Miller


Germany                     Ruhelos by William Boyd

                            Salz des Lebens by Benoite Groult

                            Die Flucht by Tatjana Grafin Donhoff

                            Handy by Ingo Schulze

                            Drachenlaufer by Khaled Hosseini

                            Spate Familie by Zeruya Shalev


Prizes Won in 2007



Costa Novel of the Year Award - Restless by William Boyd

Duff Cooper Prize - Last Mughal by William Dalrymple

Betty Trask Prize - My Side of the Story by Will Davis

Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction - Imperial Life in the Emerald City by
Rajiv Chandrasekaran

Caldecott Honours Medal - Gone Wild: An Endangered Animal Alphabet by David
McLimans

National Book Critic's Circle Award - Lemon Tree by Sandy Tolan

SCIBA Award, finalist - Miss American Pie by Margaret Sartor

PNBA Award Winner - Highest Tide by Jim Lynch

Los Angeles Times Book Prize - Librettist of Venice by Rodney Bolt

The Lukas Prize - There Is No Me Without You by Melissa Faye Greene

AIGA Award for Best Jacket - Poppy Shakespeare by Clare Allen

ALA Notable Children's Book - Gone Wild by David McLimans & Larklight by Philip
Reeve, illustrations by David Wyatt

ALA Best Book for Young Adults - Kiki Strike: Inside the Shadow City by Kirsten
Miller & Trigger, Susan Vaught

California Young Reader Medal - Christopher Mouse by William Wise

Ohio Buckeye Children's Book Award - Once Upon a Cool Motorcycle Dude by Kevin
O'Malley

Golden Kite Award - Not Afraid of Dogs by Susanna Pitzer, Illustrated by Larry
Day

Leipzig Book Fair Prize - Handy by Ingo Schulze

Hegel Prize - Richard Sennett

Georg Buchner Prize - Martin Mosebach



Database Deals Completed in 2007



•              Oxford University Press - Who's Who online deal

•              Microsoft - Major online deal

•              Finance Database - Under contract negotiation with a preferred
               party

•              Echelon Learning - Business

•              Macmillan - 2nd US edition of the Macmillan English Dictionary
               and a bilingual Catalan dictionary

•              ProQuest - Whitaker's Almanack online




                      This information is provided by RNS
            The company news service from the London Stock Exchange