Bloomsbury, publisher of the Harry Potter series, on Wednesday enlarged its footprint in the world of academic and professional publishing with the purchase of Tottel, a leading independent for £9.96m in cash.
Tottel's, which publishes
titles for accountants and tax advisers in private practice and business, will be renamed Bloomsbury Professional.
This purchase is the latest in a series of acquisitions by Bloomsbury including Methuen, the publisher of theatre-related works, Berg Publishers and The Arden Shakespeare, which publishes plays written by the Bard.
Tottel generated revenue of £6.25m, operating profit of £0.93m and income before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of £1.2m in the 12 month period ending February 28 2009. The gross assets of the business are £3.58m.
KBC Peel Hunt estimates that Bloomsbury will benefit from a £1.2m uplift in ebitda from the acquisition.
"It will advance the group's strategy of developing what it sees as the more promising academic and professional publishing side," the broker said in a report.
Tottel currently relies heavily on a subscription-based model and according to analysts at Investec (LSE: INVP.L - news) is well placed to migrate its content on line and is now helped by Bloomsbury's significant data and rights expertise.
Nigel Newton, chief executive of Bloomsbury, said the acquisition would help to unlock "significant online potential" of Tottel. Tottel was founded in 2004 and employs 27 people.
Last September Bloomsbury acquired Oxford International Publisher for almost £3m. As part of the deal Bloomsbury paid an initial £2m, including shares worth about £200,000.
The library is an online subscription-based resource for fashion students, lecturers and the broader industry. It is scheduled to be launched in 2010
The shares rose 1.4 per cent, or 1¾p to 125¾p.
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