As recorded in a 'Supplementary Note' to the Delegates' 1977/8 Report, the Inland Revenue granted OUP exemption - which is not the same as Charitable Status - in September 1978 (it had granted CUP's a year earlier). This momentous decision, which was altogether to change the course of UK publishing, not just for Oxford and its tax-liable competitors, but for the numerous smaller publishers it has subsequently absorbed, was accorded precisely zero coverage in the newspapers, and was even stifled from trade journals like The Bookseller. Stranger still, it is omitted from OUP's own histories of itself. As far as I know, apart from The Remedy, the few short, obscure passages below, which I have marked in maroon or maroon bold are therefore the only places where these facts are recorded in public print, facts which have inevitably since allowed - even required - OUP to become the UK's largest independent publisher. - A. M.

The Delegacy

The Proctors for the year were Dr. H. A. O. Hill and Dr. J. D. Fleeman; the Assessor was Dr. A. M. Hudson.
Mr. D. F. Pears took office as Delegate on 1st October 1976. Mr. A. M. Quinton and Professor J. L. Gowans resigned during the course of the year. Professor M. F. Atiyah and Professor A. M. Honore were appointed members of Finance Committee.

General

In considering the financial results of the year it is necessary to bear in mind that the Press exists to help to further scholarship and education widely conceived and without territorial restriction. A trading surplus is required in order to be able to do this. The surplus is devoted in its entirety to the maintenance and development of publishing which will promote our objectives; it is not sought for its own sake or to be put to any other use. It is worth observing therefore that during this year of financial improvement no less attention was paid to scholarly standards, to the quality of our publishing generally, or to the desirability of keeping books in print even at the cost of a ratio of stock to sales that a purely commercial publisher would find unduly high.

During 1976-7 the financial position of the Press continued to improve. The trading surplus from its operations was £6.58 m. before taxes, this representing an increase of 64 per cent over the previous year. Total sales rose by 31 per cent. Liquidity also improved as a result both of these trends and of financial management. The ability of the Press to perform its proper functions has therefore been strengthened.

Taken at its face value the increase in trading surplus may, however, give a false impression of the genuine improvement. Much of the apparent surplus was generated merely by the [page 7] process of inflation. During the year the United Kingdom Retail Price Index rose by 17 per cent. Many of the books being sold during the period had been produced at a time when costs were lower and their subsequent replacement in stock will require increased investment. In the Printing Division and the Paper Mill, moreover, costs reflected low depreciation provisions in that plant had been purchased many years ago and in some cases had been fully written down. Thus a large part of the trading surplus is not available for development and expansion; it is required to replace stock and machinery.

A further qualification concerns the extent to which earnings are made overseas. Allowing for the effects of inflation, the trading surplus within the United Kingdom is still inadequate; it is not enough by itself to sustain and develop the activities that produce it. The Press of course is not the only publisher to be dependent on overseas earnings but the balance, although now better than during the last two years, needs somewhat to be redressed. Of the trading surplus earned in the overseas offices the greater part has to be retained in the countries concerned either to meet the capital needs of the business or because of government regulations obliging the Press to do so. Within some countries, notably Nigeria, the growth of sales has been remarkable but it would be rash to expect all gains to be maintained; the risks in many areas are very high.

These qualifications having been made, it remains the case that all the operations of the Press at home and abroad showed a positive trading surplus, the sole exception being the Eastern African Branch which had to bear the costs of the closure of our Ethiopian office. The pre-tax surplus of O.U.P. New York rose in terms of sterling; this result was achieved against a background of difficult trading conditions. There was a marked improvement in the fortunes of the Wolvercote Paper Mill but the Printing Division, working in conditions of fierce competition and weak demand, suffered a reduction in earnings.

The year saw the move of the London office to Oxford and the reorganization that this entailed; the operation imposed heavy burdens and strain on those concerned with it. Inevitably we lost some staff and suffered within the General Division from a resultant decline in the number of new books [page 8] acquired. Recruitment has by now filled the gaps and our publishing programme is being revived. The move itself was carried out smoothly but produced one indirect and damaging consequence. As a result of different conditions of work in London and Oxford concentration resulted in anomalies, particularly in working hours. The Pay Code made it impossible to rectify these as and when we wished; the A.S.T.M.S. introduced a work-to-rule and there took place a one-day strike supported by one third of the Oxford publishing staff. As a result, our publishing programme was seriously delayed with consequences the full extent of which cannot yet fully be assessed. The industrial dispute was deeply to be regretted for its effects both on working relations and on our publishing. Many of the staff of the Press were moved by a sense of injustice, while management was faced with the dilemma of how to remove the anomaly while conforming to government regulations.

An important extension to the buildings of the Press was formally opened by Dr. C. H. Roberts in December 1976 and has been named after him. Other parts of the Walton Street building were developed to provide additional (and attractive) offices. The former Clarendon Press Institute was converted to provide a Centre with luncheon and other facilities for all staff; the extent to which it is used and appreciated is a measure of the striking success of the innovation.

Academic Division

Sales continued to increase, though by a margin only precariously ahead of inflation. The fact that they came very close to budget in times so unfavourable to expansion was largely due to the strength of the reference books - in particular to the publication of the sixth edition of the Concise Oxford Dictionary. A vigorous backlist was also an important factor, since the shortage of funds so keenly felt by libraries and institutions bears very hard on the sales of new books. Once again, the role of the network of overseas branches was important, since a little more than half the sales were on books exported.

The importance of the United States as a market for academic books did not diminish and a special department was established in the New York Business to give particular attention to the American sales of books published by the Academic Division in Oxford. [page 9]

The staff of the Academic Division is now concentrated in the new North Wing offices which have replaced the quarters formerly occupied by the Printer's learned readers. A severe loss was the departure of the Deputy Academic Publisher, Mr. J. H. Stallworthy, to a Chair of English Literature at Cornell University. All the more welcome, therefore, has been a reinforcement of younger editors: Mr. Adam Hodgkin has taken over responsibility for philosophy and allied subjects in place of Mr. Nicholas Wilson, on his transfer to the General Division; and Dr. Ivon Asquith is now assisting Mr. P. H. Sutcliffe in the field of history.

In the course of the year the Academic Division published 234 books, of which 35 were published on commission and 11 were official university publications and lectures.

In academic science and technology, notable publications were the first titles in two new series: Chemical Milling, by W. T. Harris, initiated the Oxford Series on Advanced Manufacturing, a series concerned with advanced developments in traditional methods and also with entirely new techniques of manufacturing; and The Theoretical Basis of Electrocardiology, edited by C. V. Nelson and D. B. Geselowitz, was the first volume in the Oxford Medical Engineering Series, which is especially concerned with the contribution to biomedical research made by the technological development of new methods and the provision of relevant theoretical foundations.

A mathematics book of an unusual kind was Graph Theory 1736-1936 by N. L. Biggs, E. K. Lloyd, and R. J. Wilson, a book whose wide appeal was confirmed when it became an American book club selection. In the history of science, the three-volume edition by Dr. J. D. North of the works of the astronomer abbot Richard of Wallingford (d. 1331) was a substantial contribution to knowledge of the medieval period.

In college and popular science, Structural Mechanics by Andrew C. Palmer was the first book in a new engineering science series for undergraduates, and the third edition of Electricity and Magnetism by B. I. and B. Bleaney confirmed the continuing viability of that classic textbook, first published in 1957. The value of another successful textbook was reasserted with the second edition of Human Biology by G. A. Harrison, J. S. Weiner, J. M. Tanner, and the late N. A. Barnicot. The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins was very widely... [page 10 - remainder of detailed publication reports omitted]

[page 20]

(Signed) COOPERS & LYBRAND
Chartered Accountants

The figures for turnover in the Consolidated Profit and Loss Account again exclude inter-departmental and inter-business sales. No figure for profit as a ratio of capital employed is given as the Delegates believe that this can be misleading.

The Delegates wish to observe,

(a) In regard to the Consolidated Balance Sheet, that the investment and cash position is substantially stronger at 31 March than at other times of the year;

(b) in regard to the Consolidated Profit and Loss Account for the year, that the Accounts have been prepared on the historical cost convention, and thus make no allowance for the declining real value of money. Informal estimates of the effect of restating the Accounts on a Current Cost Accounting basis indicate that reported earnings would be substantially lower.

[page 21]

Note A. Figures for 1976 restated to reduce bank balances and overdrafts by £350, to reflect surplus position at 31.3.76 of certain overdraft lines.

Note B. Including non-remittable reserves: see Note 3 below.

Note C. Including United Kingdom Corporation Tax, payment of which is deferred as the result of a claim for stock appreciation relief until some future date not at present determinable.

[page 22]

Note 1. The figures for 1976 have been restated to reflect a change in accounting policy introduced during 1977. Previously, exchange gains and losses arising on the conversion of current assets and liabilities of the overseas units were included as exceptional items in the Profit and Loss Account. From 1 April 1976, these items (net of tax) are treated as movements on the Accumulated Fund; the amount so restated for 1976 is £1,328 before tax of £271. Exchange gains and losses on fixed assets continue to be treated as movements on reserves.

Note 2. Including exceptional items which (after the adjustment described in Note 1) are relatively minor for both years: also including the share of pretax profit attributable to associated companies of £142 (1977) and £55 (1976).

The contribution of the two manufacturing departments to the consolidated profit before tax was:

Note 3. A proportion of the earnings arising in certain overseas countries is not available for use elsewhere, and represents an addition to non-remittable reserves.