Contents (printed page numbering)
03 Foreword by the Vice-Chancellor
04 Report of the Secretary to the Delegates
06 Geographic Reports: USA UK, Spain, International (awaiting transcription)
10 Scholarly and Professional publishing (awaiting transcription)
11 Reference publishing (awaiting transcription)
12 Trade and music publishing (awaiting transcription)
13 Schools publishing (awaiting transcription)
14 ELT publishing (awaiting transcription)
15 Higher Education publishing (awaiting transcription)
16 Preamble to Financial Report
17 Abstract of the Combined Balance Sheet of the Trading Operations as at 31/3/2003 (+2002, restated)
17 Abstract of the Combined results of the Trading Operations for the year to 31/3/2003 (+2002)
18 Abstract of the Statement of Recognized Gains and Losses of the Trading Operations for the year to 31/3/2003 (+2002)
19 Abstract the Combined Balance Sheet of the Delegates' Property and Reserve Fund as at 31/3/2003 (+2002)
20 Abstract of the Combined Statement of Financial Activities of the Property and Reserve Fund for the year to 31/3/2003 (+2002)
21 Lists of OUP Delegates, Finance and Strategy Committees (Click for separate file - new to the Annual Report)
22 List of prizes awarded during 2002/03 (New to the Annual Report)
24-43 List of scholarly and professional books published in 2002/03 (New to the Annual Report)
Homily anxiously repeated on inside front and back covers:
Oxford University Press is a Department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University's objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide.
Foreword by the Vice-Chancellor
Under the difficult circumstances that are rapidly becoming the norm in academic publishing the Press performed very well in 2002/03, delivering both notable publishing and a strong financial result.
Particularly important to members of the University, of course, is OUP's scholarly publishing, and the long list of publications at the end of this report is evidence of the Press's success in fulfilling its scholarly mission over the past year. Also, in addition to the Oxford English Dictionary and the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, the Press has embarked on a third major project. Oxford Scholarship Online, a vast database of 750 monographs, is a tremendous undertaking and one that will benefit the academic community immeasurably.
The Press's strong financial performance over the past three years has enabled it to increase the value of its guaranteed annual transfer to the rest of the University by a third, to £12 million. In 2002/03 the transfer was £14.8 million with an in-kind contribution of £0.7 million. In addition, the Delegates approved a one-off capital transfer of £62 million which will go towards the development of the Radcliffe Infirmary site and the establishment of an endowment fund for acquisitions for the Bodleian Library.
In the the Delegacy, Christopher Perrins retired after seven years. The Biology and particularly Ornithology lists have benefited from his insight and support. He is replaced by Christopher Leaver. Christopher Butler retired after fifteen years as a Delegate, ten of them on Finance Committee. His intellectual range, enthusiasm, and humour will be missed. He is succeeded by Hermione Lee. Also new to the Delegacy is Bryan Ward-Perkins; he takes over from Terence Cave, who retired last year.
Sir Colin Lucas
Vice-Chancellor
University of Oxford
[Return to Contents]
Report of the Secretary to the Delegates
In a year characterised by a depressed US market, by difficulties in ELT markets in Latin America, by the first indications of funding problems in UK schools, and by the gathering crisis in the Middle East, the Press achieved steady growth in sales and a substantial improvement in surplus.
Turnover for the year was £392 million, an increase of 4 per cent on last year at historic rates of exchange, or 5.6 per cent on a light-for-like basis. Viewed over the last five years sales have risen from £308 million to £392 million, a compound rate of interest of 6.3 per cent per annum. Sales performances varied significantly across the Press. One of the more pleasing aspects was the excellent achievement of the Academic Division, which has had one of its best ever performances in terms of both sales and surplus. In spite of the problems in the USA (the Academic Division's largest market) sales increased strongly on the back of the new edition of the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, the fourth edition of the Oxford Textbook of Medicine, a full year's sales from the Blackstone Law List (and this has proved to be an excellent acquisition), and success for Higher Education and Journals publishing.
The market in the USA has been problematic for the last two years. The crisis in State budgets has led to savage cutbacks in library spending, while retailers and wholesalers are showing a marked reluctance to hold quantities of stock. The American Association of University Presses statistics for 2002 show hard covers sales down by 4 per cent on 2001, which was itself a poor year. Monograph sales, which have been deteriorating steadily for years, are experiencing an acceleration in this decline because of cuts in library spending. In this context OUP USA did remarkably well in out-performing the market and recording a sales increase.
The International Division produced its fourth year in succession of strong results. There are exceptionally good results from Malaysia, Canada, Australia, and Tanzania. The International Division branches have invested substantially in developing materials for local schools and higher education markets, and are now seeing excellent sales of this local product at attractive margins. At the same time, the branches continued to promote appropriate titles from Oxford and New York. In the last five years the International Division's sales as a proportion of the Press's total sales have increased from 17 per cent to 21 per cent.
Our UK Education business improved its market share in secondary schools, and out-performed other publishers in a depressed primary market. In addition, export sales were extremely strong. Since the close of the financial year problems in school funding, which started to become apparent in the first quarter of 2003, have now developed into full-scale crisis.
Performance in our ELT businesses in the core Western European and Asian markets were strong. Problems in Latin America, coupled with specific problems in parts of the Middle East, caused ELT's overall sales increase to come in lower than in previous years, yet the division had its best ever year in the amount of surplus that it generated.
OUP Spain had another excellent year at a time of major curriculum reform. ELT sales remain the largest part of the business and in this area we protected our market share and achieved good growth. In the Spanish secondary school market we have built a substantial business in five years with last year bringing dramatic growth.
The post-tax surplus of the Press increased from £46.6 million in 2001/02 to £58 million in 2002/03. This increase in net surplus of £11.4 million included £8 million of non-recurring items. The like-for-like surplus figure of £50 million shows a 7.3 per cent improvement on the prior year. The Press's six operating divisions all delivered their budgeted surplus: this was the result of a mix of steady sales growth, good improvements in gross margin and rights income, and tight control of the trading account. Cashflow benefited from a strong trading performance and control of working capital. Overall this was a result that compared extremely well with previous years and with the published results of our competitors.
We continued to invest heavily in publishing to ensure an organic growth for the years to come. The areas with the most obvious growth potential for the Press are schools, ELT, higher education, and reference publishing, and we have continued to commit substantial sums to editorial projects across a range of geographic markets. But this does not mean that we have in any way scaled back our commitment to scholarly publishing. The list starting on page 24 of this report gives an indication of the number and range of scholarly titles that we publish. We remain the largest publisher of scholarly works in the world and are publishing more monographs now than we have ever done before despite the difficult state of the market. Our expenditure on the two great humanities research projects - the Oxford English Dictionary and the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography - hit a peak of over £9 million in 2002/03.
Perhaps the most exciting initiative, not just in our scholarly publishing but possibly in the world of scholarly publishing at the moment, is the work that is being done on Oxford Scholarship Online towards the launch in the second half of 2003. The complete text of 750 carefully selected Oxford titles - over 250,000 book pages and over 100 hundred million words in Philosophy, Religion and Theology, Political Science, and Economics and Finance - will be available in a full cross-searchable format on launch, and at least 200 new titles will be added each year. Classic works of scholarship, along with newly published works, will be more accessible than ever and will make Oxford Scholarship Online a unique and invaluable research tool for scholars and students alike.
Oxford Scholarship Online will take its place alongside what is surely the leading and most prestigious online library of humanities materials in the world - OED online, American Dictionary of National biography, Oxford Reference Online (which this year will be enhanced by the addition of a number of the Oxford Companions), and Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians and Grove Dictionary of Art. These will be joined in September 2004 by the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Our journals business continues to be at the forefront of our online publishing with virtually all journals in our stable now available online.
Our education businesses continue to invest steadily in online developments but in most cases these are supplementary materials that we supply free as part of the overall package that accompanies an adoption of print materials. One exception to this free supply is the cluster of online materials, led by Oxford Reading Tree Online, that we have developed for the UK schools market, which the Government is funding through the provision of Electronic Learning Credits for schools. This initiative, delayed in its launch by controversy over the BBC's involvement, has now been clouded by the more general problems in schools funding: for a school that cannot afford to pay its teachers, repair its buildings, or buy books, the availability of online materials is hardly a priority. We must hope that this is a temporary state of affairs.
I have already mentioned in passing the Grove Dictionaries of Music and Art. The Press acquired these copyrights from Macmillan at the beginning of 2003. It is rare that scholarly works of this stature with such renowned branding become available, and the Press is delighted to have both online and print versions available as part of its reference offering. We hope that the Grove acquisition will be as successful as the acquisitions of the Blackstone Law List and the Thomson Higher Education titles, which were made last year, have proved to be.
In the last five years the Press has invested substantially new IT systems. We are now in a position where approximately 90 per cent of our business is run on a SAP platform. This year we completed Phase II of our implementation in the USA and implemented SAP in Canada and Southern Africa. We also completed the task of replacing the subscription system for the Journals business. All these projects have proceeded on schedule and within budget.
In the final year of the Press's three-year financial agreement with the rest of the University, the Press transferred £14.8 million, which exceeded the minimum commitment of £9 million. In the three years of the scheme the Press has exceeded the committed amount by £13.8 million in transferring £40.8 million. In 2002/03 the Press made a special transfer of £62 million to the rest of the University: £2 million of this will be used to establish an endowment fund for the Bodleian Library to use for acquisitions; the principal purpose of the £60 million will be the development of the Radcliffe Infirmary site which the university has recently acquired. The amount, comprising the annual subvention and special transfers, transferred from the Press to the rest of the University between 1997/98 and 2002/03 totals £202 million. The new financial arrangement that comes into effect in 2003/04 increases the minimum to be transferred from £9 million to £12 million annually.
Dedicated readers of this report will notice a few changes to the format of this year's edition. We have tried to organise the report in a more transparent way that focuses on the Press's Geographic markets and the types of publishing that it does rather than reflect our internal structure. We have also listed scholarly titles and prizes separately rather than burying them in the body of the text. We hope that you will find these changes an improvement.
Henry Reece
Secretary to the Delegates
and Chief Executive.
[Return to Contents]
The US market had another tough year, with continued erosion in library budgets due to massive state cutbacks and diminished sales in the retail sector for scholarly publications. American University Presses, down four per cent in 2002 after a miserable 2001, are struggling with the triple threat of the bad economy, cutbacks in foundation support, and the move within academic libraries to support online publications, especially journals, at the expense of print monographs.
Given these challenging conditions, OUP USA outperformed the market, with sales increasing due to record growth in our Higher Education division from the Thomson acquisition, and solid growth in our Medical and Professional programmes. The Trade Hardcover and Trade Reference lists managed to exceed budget thanks to several bestsellers. And Online Reference, an area we have targeted for investment, is expanding with the introduction of Oxford Reference Online and the acquisition of the Grove copyrights.
[Return to Contents]
Introductory note
The Delegates wish to observe that
(a) the abstracts of Accounts are drawn from the full audited accounts of the Trading Operations and the Delegates' Property and Reserve Fund of the Press;
(b) with regard to the abstract of the combined Balance Sheet of the Trading Operations, the short-term cash position is substantially stronger at 31 March than at other times of the year;
(c) a proportion of earnings and cash balances arising in certain overseas countries is not available for use elsewhere;
(d) the Delegates' Property and Reserve Fund was established during the year ended 31 March 1984 in order to distinguish more clearly the reserve investments of the Press from the assets and liabilities relating to the Trading Operations. The Fund holds and manages the properties of the Press together with the income arising therefrom. Since the Press is a charitable enterprise and does not enjoy the protection of limited liability, the purpose of the Fund is as follows:-
(i) to provide protection to the University against its having its credit called upon to underwrite any future liabilities of the Press's Trading Operations. The volume of net liquid reserves appropriate to achieve this objective is determined by the size of the Press's Trading Operations;(ii) to provide the Delegates with a source of finance from which they may make grants for specific University projects.
Statement by the Auditors to the Delegates of the Oxford University Press
We have audited the full accounts of both the Trading Operations and the Delegates' Property and Reserve Fund of Oxford University Press for the year ended 31 March 2003 and submitted unqualified audit reports thereon to the Delegates.
Our audits have been carried out as prescribed by the Statutes of the University and according to instructions received from the Delegates and approved United Kingdom Auditing Standards.
(Signed) Deloitte & Touche
Chartered Accountants and Registered Auditors
Crawley, 1 July 2003
[Return to Contents]
Abstract of the Combined Balance Sheet of the Trading Operations as at 31 March 2003
| Year ended 31/3/2003 | Year ended 31/3/2002 | |||
| £'000 | £'000 | £'000 | £'000 | |
| Fixed Assets | ||||
| Tangible Assets | 20,443 | 22,362 | ||
| Intangible Assets | 34,361 | 22,570 | ||
| Investments | 502 | 609 | ||
| 55,306 | 45,451 | |||
| Current Assets | ||||
| Stocks and work-in-progress | 62,847 | 65,234 | ||
| Debtors | 92,006 | 99,684 | ||
| Current Asset Investments | 73,853 | 82,092 | ||
| Bank balances & cash | 62,683 | 28,678 | ||
| 291,389 | 101,934 | |||
| Less: Current Liabilities | ||||
| Creditors | 87,765 | 87,231 | ||
| Taxation | 5,765 | 5,184 | ||
| Bank loans and overdrafts | 6,856 | 9,519 | ||
| 100,386 | 101,934 | |||
| Net Current Assets | 191,103 | 173,754 | ||
| Total Assets less Current Liabilities | 246,309 | 219,295 | ||
| Less: Creditors due after one year | 9,369 | 8,568 | ||
| Net Assets excluding Deficit | 240,897 | 212,802 | ||
| Pension Deficit | 42,851 | 6,733 | ||
| Net Assets including Deficit | 198,046 | 206,069 | ||
| Capital Employed | ||||
| Accumulated Fund and Reserves | 196,918 | 205,082 | ||
| Minority Interests | 1,128 | 987 | ||
| 198,046 | 206,069 |
[Return to Contents]
Abstract of the Combined Results of the Trading Operations for the year ended 31 March 2003
| Year ended 31/3/2003 | Year ended 31/3/2002 | |
| £,000 | £,000 | |
| Turnover | 392,462 | 375,760 |
| Surplus for year before tax | ||
| - As previously stated | 49,528 | |
| - Prior year adjustment | 1,220 | |
| - As restated | 61,896 | 50,784 |
| Tax | (3,509) | (3,922) |
| Surplus after Tax | 58,387 | 46,826 |
| Surplus attributable to minority interests | (346) | (256) |
| Net Surplus for year | 58,041 | 46,570 |
[Return to Contents]
| Year ended 31/3/2003 | Year ended 31/3/2002 | |
| £,000 | £,000 | |
| Net Profit for the financial year | ||
| - As previously stated | 45,350 | |
| - Prior year adjustment | 1,220 | |
| As restated | 58,041 | 46,570 |
| ACTUARIAL LOSSES ON GROUP PENSION SCHEME | (44,900) | (20,700) |
| Currency translation differences on foreign currency net investments | (7,700) | (2,196) |
| Total recognized gains and losses relating to the year | (5,441) | (23,674) |
| ACTUARIAL LOSSES ON GROUP PENSION SCHEME | ||
| Difference between actual and expected return on scheme assets | (36,100) | (13,400) |
| Experience(d?) gains and losses arising on scheme liabilities | (2,900) | (600) |
| Effects of changes in assumptions underlying the present value of scheme liabilities | (5,900) | (6,700) |
| (44,900) | (20,700) |
[Return to Contents]
Abstract of the Combined Balance Sheet of the Delegates' Property and Reserve Fund as at 31 March 2003
Balance Sheet as at 31 March 2003
| 2003 Trading Properties Retention Reserve £'000 | 2003 Effective Operating Reserve (General Funds) £'000 | 2003 Effective Operating Reserve (Designated Funds) £'000 | 2003 Total £'000 | 2002 Total £'000 | |
| Fixed Assets | |||||
| Tangible Fixed Assets | 78,168 | - | - | 78,168 | 80,186 |
| Investments | - | 25,907 | 17,771 | 43,678 | 60,017 |
| 78,168 | 25,907 | 17,771 | 121,846 | 140,203 | |
| Current Assets | |||||
| Debtors | - | - | - | - | 51 |
| Cash | 1,264 | 703 | - | 1,967 | 6,874 |
| 1,264 | 703 | - | 1,967 | 6,925 | |
| Creditors under 1 year | (1,509) | (39,571) | - | (41,080) | (823) |
| Net Current Assets | (245) | (38,868) | - | (39,113) | 6,102 |
| Creditors over 1 year | (23,063) | (3,125) | - | (26,188) | (29,399) |
| Net Funds Available | 54,860 | (16,068) | 17,771 | 56,545 | 116,906 |
| Fund Balance | |||||
| Opening Balance | 55,003 | 46,801 | 15,102 | 116,906 | 108,288 |
| Net movement in funds | (143) | (62,887) | 2,669 | (60,361) | 8,618 |
| Closing Balance | 54,860 | (16,086) | 17,771 | 56,545 | 116,906 |
[Return to Contents]
| 2003 Trading Properties Retention Reserve £'000 | 2003 Effective Operating Reserve (General Funds) £'000 | 2003 Effective Operating Reserve (Designated Funds) £'000 | 2003 Total £'000 | 2002 Total £'000 | |
| Incoming Resources | |||||
| Income from properties | 14,100 | - | - | 14,100 | 10,183 |
| Income from investments | - | 2,110 | - | 2,110 | 2,435 |
| Transfer from Trading Operations | - | 13,605 | - | 13,605 | 15,845 |
| Total Incoming Resources | 14,100 | 15,715 | - | 29,815 | 28,463 |
| Resources Used | |||||
| Transfer of funds to the rest of the University: | |||||
| - Cash | - | - | (76,762)* | (76,762) | (14,745) |
| - Benefits in kind | - | - | (713) | (713) | (584) |
| Other Expenditure | (8,256) | (384) | - | (8,640) | (5,662) |
| Net Incoming/(Outgoing) Resources before Transfers | 5,844 | 15,331 | (77,475) | (56,300) | 7,472 |
| Transfer between funds | (7,586) | (72,558) | 80,144 | - | - |
| Net Incoming/(Outgoing) Resources for the year | (1,742) | (57,227) | 2,669 | (56,300) | 7,472 |
| Unrealized investment losses | - | (5,660) | - | (5,660) | (656) |
| Unrealized surplus on revaluation of investment properties | 1,204 | - | - | 1,204 | 1,794 |
| Currency translation differences on foreign currency net investments | 395 | - | - | 395 | 8 |
| Net Movement in Funds | (143) | (62,887) | 2,669 | (60,361) | 8,618 |
| Total Funds Brought Forward | 55,003 | 46,801 | 15,102 | 116,906 | 108,288 |
| Total Funds Carried Forward | 54,860 | (16,086) | 17,771 | 56,545 | 116,906 |
* £60 million of this is the money for the purchase and development of the John Radcliffe Infirmary site in the Woodstock Road as a neurological research institute (see The Oxford Times, 30/8/03). - A. M.
Click to return to the top of this file.
Click to return to OUP Accounts Index
Click for digests of OUP annual reports and accounts, as published in The Bookseller, 1988 - 1999 Years ended March/April 1988, 1989, 1990, (1991 in preparation) 1992, (1993 and 1994 in preparation) 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001.
Click to go to
The Waldock Report, OU's own investigation into its P (1970)
CUP's tax-exemption Chapter 15 of M. H. Black's Cambridge University Press 1584-1984.
Oxbridge accounts reveal assets of £2 billion Sunday Times, 16/11/97
Mammon's Imprint, by Valentine Cunningham (+ leader comment and campaign), OUP fights corner in poetry row (includes CUP's donations to CU), US presses enjoy tax freedom, The Times Higher (Education Supplement), 12/2/99.
OUP to invest £87 million in university The Times (Business section), 17/7/99
OUP denies breach of charity rules The Oxford Times, 5/11/99
Cooking the books? Cherwell, 12/11/99
OUP profit row Cherwell, 25/2/00
A Message from India The Oxford Times, 30/3/01, in which OUP's 1999 'donations' are admitted to be bogus.
A Palpable Hit? OUP's illegal donation in 2003 of £77 million for the purchase of the John Radcliffe Infirmary in Woodstock Road, for conversion into student accommodation.
Oxford Mail and Times reports on above, 9th & 15th August 2003