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26 Jan 2022
Bloomsbury Publishing : A story of excellence - Buy

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Bloomsbury Publishing : A story of excellence - Buy
Bloomsbury Publishing Plc (BMY:LON) | 489 0 0.0% | Mkt Cap: 398.9m
- Published:
26 Jan 2022 -
Author:
Alastair Reid | Ross Broadfoot -
Pages:
6 -
Upgrades once again: In a short trading update, Bloomsbury today note that revenues for FY22 are expected to be comfortably ahead of expectations, with profits materially ahead of consensus. The company note the continued strong trading in the Consumer division, across both Adult and Children’s segments – which should firmly allay any previous fears around the impact of supply chain disruption on the business.
Delivering on the promise: In the Academic & Professional business, management note that in January Bloomsbury Digital Resources reached the original 2016 target of achieving revenue / PBT of £15m / £5m respectively, demonstrating the success of their efforts to build high quality, high margin digital revenues with structural growth prospects. The recently announced new target of a further 50% organic growth (and a sustained 30% margin) should be viewed with significant confidence as a result in our view, particularly given the accelerated pipeline of customers trialling the products post crisis, and the beneficial impact of the recent ABC-CLIO acquisition.
Scarcity value: We increase PBT by 11%/9% in FY22E/23E respectively, driving the rise in our TP to 400p. Having pulled back with the market in recent days, the shares now trade at <8x CY23E EBITDA (or c.14x PE with net cash). We believe this is a fundamental mis-pricing for an equity with resilient growth, significant scarcity value, in an industry that continues to consolidate at notably higher valuations - we continue to see further upside to go for. Buy reiterated.