OUP to back libraries in every college
Oxford University Press is to give £10,000 per annum for each of the next three years directly to support every college library. This announcement is contained in OUP's annual report for 1996-7, published today, which also reports another record sales year for the Press.
The contributions are in particular recognition of the benefits OUP says it derives from the college system, with its encouragement to cross-disciplinary scholarship. The money will be paid to the University centrally, who will make the funds available to the colleges from 1 April 1998.
OUP has also announced a special contribution of £20 million to the rest of the University, to be used for capital projects. This follows the £10 million given in 1994-5 for capital projects, and is in addition to the £6 million in cash and £500,000 in kind contributed by the press each year.
These substantial contributions come after another record year for the press, in which turnover rose by 11 per cent to £278.2 million. The surplus for the year was £26.7 million, £7.3 million up on 1995-6, reflecting OUP's energetic and diverse publishing programme.
Over 4,800 titles were published by OUP in 1996-7, including academic and educational books and materials, resources for teaching English as a foreign language, college textbooks, books for the general reader, and journals. Among the leading titles were Europe: A History by Norman Davies, and the first volume of R. F. Foster's authorised biography W. B. Yeats: A Life. A major event in the USA was the publication of The Oxford Mark Twain.
OUP has also extended its influence internationally, with growing sales in newer markets such as Eastern Europe. All overseas branches had a successful year in 1996-7, with many, such as OUP Southern Africa, making the leading contributions to the development of education in their respective countries.
Mr James Arnold-Baker (pictured), Secretary to the Delegates and OUP's Chief Executive, said: "Our publishing program has continued to expand over the past year to meet the world-wide demand for our books and materials, and investment has been made for further growth in the future. At the same time we are delighted to have been able to give substantially to the University, to help ensure the continuing strength of both institutions in years to come."
The OUP Annual Report 1996-7 is being distributed with this Gazette.
The year 1996/7 was one of strong publishing from all parts of the Press. Among the leading titles were Europe: a History, by Norman Davies, which was a great popular success, and the first volume of R. F. Foster's authorized biography, W. B. Yeats - a Life. The new Fowler's Modern English Usage, edited by R. W. Burchfield, created great excitement in the media, and two major new editions of important academic titles were published to widespread critical acclaim: the third edition of the Oxford Classical Dictionary, edited by S. Hornblower and A, Spawforth, and the new edition of the Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, by F. L. Cross ad E. A. Livingstone. A major event in the USA was the publication of the Oxford Mark Twain, the complete works of Mark Twain with introductions by leading modern writers. In science publishing, an important new international and interdisciplinary series was launched, Debates in Psychology, and the science college list was further strengthened by a sixth edition of Benjamin Lewin, Genes, William H. Elliott and Daphne C. Elliott, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and the acquisition of the ex-North American rights to Geoffrey M. Cooper, The Cell: a Molecular Approach.
In English Language Teaching (ELT) Publishing, OUP launched a new adult course, Lifelines, by Tom Hutchinson, to complement the leading Headway course, and published an innovative monolingual dictionary, the Oxford Learners' Wordfinder Dictionary Fanfare, a new ELT primary course, won a prize from the Spanish Ministry of Education for its contribution to education for society.
In Educational Publishing, the highlight was the publication of the second edition of the Oxford Children's Encyclopedia, now expanded to nine volumes, in both book and CD-ROM formats. There was also a major new edition of the Oxford School Dictionary and a new edition of the Oxford Latin Course which is, for the first time, also being sold in the USA in a separate Americanized edition.
Publishing in the branches outside the UK and USA continues to grow, in many cases making a major contribution to the development of educational publishing in those countries. This is particularly so in South Africa, which I visited in 1996 when I attended the launch of the Dictionary of South African English on Historical Principles. Education and publishing are enormously important in South Africa as it redefines itself as a society, and Oxford publishing ranges from the South African Oxford School Dictionary and the In Search of History series to titles such as Agricultural Land Reform in South Africa, by Van Zyl, Kirsten, and Binswanger, and the novel Ways of Dying by Zakes Mda.
OUP continues to invest heavily in scholarly projects. There are strong monograph programmes in the UK, the USA, and India. The two major scholarly publishing projects, the third edition of the Oxford English Dictionary and the New Dictionary of National Biography, for which the Press is the major funder, are both on schedule for publication early next century. The Press is also devoting resources to researching the potential of the Internet for making academic works more widely available. The suitability of this medium for journals publishing has already been proven with the success of the on-line version of Nucleic Acids Research: since that was launched in January 1996, many more of OUP's journals have been made available on-line. There are still a number of questions to be resolved concerning technological capabilities and payment, in a medium where a large amount of information is provided free, but it seems likely that a number of OUP's large reference books may also be available on-line in some form in the next few years.
There were some changes to the Delegacy in 1996/7. In Oxford, Professor Brian Trowell retired after seven years of distinguished service. He was the first musicologist to serve as a Delegate and he oversaw a substantial increase in the range and number of music books published, not least by the acquisition of the Dent list and the Master Musicians series. Professor George Radda resigned after four years as a Delegate to accept the post of Chief Executive of the Medical Research Council. During his comparatively short time as a Delegate he raised the profile of OUP's publishing in the molecular sciences and was one of the strongest advocates for courageous and innovative publishing in all disciplines. Their successors are Professor Iain D. Campbell, Professor of Structural Biology, and Professor Colin P. Mayer, Peter Moores Professor of Management Studies and OUP's first Management Studies Delegate. Mr. Christopher Butler and Professor Terence Cave will assume responsibility within the Delegacy for music publishing.
In Finance Committee Professor Radda and Professor Brady resigned, although Professor Brady remains as a Delegate. They were replaced by Professor Andrew Goudie and Professor Susan Iversen.
In the USA ten new US Delegates were appointed, replacing Delegates whose terms had expired.
Finally, I am delighted to report that the excellent financial results have enabled the Delegates to approve a special transfer of £20 million to the rest of the University, to be used for capital projects. The Press's regular contribution has become increasingly important to the finances of the rest of the University in the current climate of reduced funding for Higher Education. Given the constant need for investment to ensure Oxford's continuing status as a world-class university, this substantial special transfer is particularly welcome.
This special transfer will not affect the Press's annual contribution to the rest of the University, which for the triennium starting in 1996/7 will continue at £6 million per annum. The contribution in kind, representing free printing services, grants of books, and the funding of overseas scholarships, will also continue at £500,000 a year.
The Delegates have also proposed that in addition to these payments they should transfer funds to enable the University to make grants of £10,000 per annum for the next three years to each of the colleges towards the costs of their libraries. Council welcomes this proposal and has adopted it. [Return to Contents]
The year 1996/7 was a successful one for the Press, with strong performances in all parts of the group despite adverse market conditions in many areas, particularly the USA. Turnover during the year was £278.2 million, an increase of 11 per cent on the previous year, 17 per cent at constant exchange rates. All three publishing divisions have contributed to this growth: ELT continues to expand, building on the success of established courses and increasingly adapting courses to target specific local markets; Educational Publishing is concentrating on building lists to answer the needs of education curricula in a number of countries, but is also fuelling growth through rights sales and exports across the group; and Academic Publishing continues to expand on both sides of the Atlantic, spurred on by a number of high-profile trade titles, some reaching the best-seller lists. Overall, over 4,800 titles were published by Oxford University Press worldwide during the year.
The sales of ELT Publishing reached £98 million compared with £78 million last year. Sales were particularly strong in Spain and in the emerging Asian and Eastern European markets, while the Japanese market recovered after several flat years. Educational Publishing achieved sales of £77 million against last year's sales of £69 million. Almost all the branches increased both sales and surplus, and Oxed performed remarkably well in the tough UK educational market. Academic Publishing as a whole found things difficult, particularly in the USA, where all publishers were hit by exceptionally high returns in the book trade. Academic Publishing sales increased to £113 million compared with £104 million last year.
The surplus for the year was £26.7 million, a marked improvement on last year's surplus of £19.4 million (as adjusted to reflect the change in accounting policy relating to the treatment of Electronic Publishing development costs). This result is especially commendable because it includes the cost of solving distribution problems in Corby and further investment in the SAP Core Systems project. Furthermore, the result was adversely affected by the effects of foreign exchange. But there were positive elements: the write-back of provision against trade investment and the greatly improved performance of Harla.
Following last year's strategic review and management reorganization, there has been significant change in the structures of the three publishing groups. In ELT and Academic Publishing in the UK this has resulted in devolution into smaller business units with greater accountability for achieving objectives in tightly-targeted markets.
Publishing Services in the UK has also been reorganized and brought together under a single board. This will allow for a more strategic approach to the provision of services to the three publishing divisions. The majority of Personnel functions have also been devolved to the publishing divisions, with only Payroll, Pensions, and Training remaining as group functions.
Other organizational developments during the year included the launch of the ELT Supply Chain project, which aims to improve the supply of our products to international markets and reduce stock-holding, and the Corporate Purchasing Project, which aims to rationalize purchasing of paper, binding, and other materials across the group. We also started an examination of the Press's corporate identity, and appointed the designer Colin Banks to help us.
The year saw the successful listing on the Alternative Investment Market of AND and Inner Workings, two software companies in which OUP has minority shareholdings.
The Press continues to invest heavily in publishing, in support of our basic objective, the furtherance of scholarship and education. This investment includes not only major academic publishing projects such as the third edition of the Oxford English Dictionary, the new Dictionary of National Biography, the American National Biography, and the Canadian Oxford Dictionary, but also the development of educational and ELT courses worldwide. One of the Press's objectives for the next decade is to become a major Spanish-language publisher and this is reflected in investment in the school text-book programmes in Spain and parts of Latin America
The Press has been exploring new media with the creation of Oxford Interactive Learning, a new department which has been established to respond to the needs of distance learners. This is a market that is currently not served by OUP, which has so far tended to publish materials to support traditional, institutional education. Oxford Interactive Learning is aiming to use existing OUP materials or to publish new material where necessary, in a variety of media, to extend OUP's educational reach to students who want or have to work largely on their own, with little opportunity for contact with a teacher.
The continued strong sales growth has treated the need for new office and warehouse space. There are building projects in various stages of completion in many parts of the world, including India, Pakistan, Canada, Mexico, and South Africa, where a new office and warehouse complex will be opened in the autumn of 1997
In the UK the Corby distribution centre has been extended by the construction of a new 6,500m' warehouse on the Willowbrook South Industrial Estate. This is intended primarily to stock ELT books and materials and was completed in an impressive 16 weeks in response to the needs of ELT's highly seasonal business.
At Corby the decision has been made to replace the warehouse management systems with SAP, in order to improve performance levels and ensure a more stable platform from which to build the Press's distribution strategy in the future. The extra running costs and write-down of the equipment and software of the existing system contributed negatively to the Press's results for 1996/7.
In the UK the first phase of the implementation of SAP core systems (Finance and Costings) was completed successfully, with the second phase (Sales and Distribution) planned for early 1998. This is a very large investment, but essential to ensure the continued efficiency of a rapidly expanding global business.
In Oxford the newly refurbished Oxford University Press Bookshop was reopened in June 1996. Serving the local academic, educational, and ELT community, it has proved to be a popular and effective showcase for the Press, and has achieved record sales throughout the year.
Staff numbers grew during the year from 3,257 to 3,411 worldwide. In a business which relies so heavily on the dedication and creativity of a highly intelligent workforce, this is a valuable investment for the future
Sir Keith Thomas [Return to Contents]
Reports on Academic Publishing, ELT Publishing, Educational Publishing, and Publishing Services omitted - A. M.
Introductory note
(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) during the year the accounting policy concerning the development costs for Electronic publications was changed to write-off these costs as incurred. Previously these costs were accumulated and amortized in line with revenues from the finished work. The accounting policy has been changed because the Delegates consider the new policy gives a fairer representation of the group's results. Under Financial Reporting Standard 3 the impact of such a change must be reflected in prior period accounts so as to maintain consistency of accounting treatment in reported figures The effect of this restatement has been shown in the abstract of the Trading Operations' accounts;
(c) with regard to the abstract of the consolidated Balance Sheet of the Trading Operations, the short term cash position is substantially stronger at 31 March than at other times of the year;
(d) a proportion of earnings and cash balances arising in certain overseas countries is not available for use elsewhere;
(e) 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:-
(ii) to provide the Delegates with a source of finance from which they may make grants for specific University projects;
(iii) to provide a source of finance for long term publishing investments essential to the achievement of the Press's objectives;
(f) after the balance sheet date, a scheme was agreed by the Delegates to make a special contribution of £20.000.000 to the University from the Delegates' Property and Reserve Fund
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 1997 and submitted unqualified audit reports thereon to the Delegates.
Our audit has been carried out as prescribed by the Statutes of the University and according to instructions received from the Delegates and approved Auditing Standards.
(Signed) Coopers & Lybrand
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Click to return to OUP Accounts IndexVice-Chancellor's Report
Report of the Chairman of Finance Committee
Abstract of the Accounts of the Trading Operations and the Delegates' Property and Reserve Fund of the Press for the year ended 31 March 1997
The Delegates wish to observe that
(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;
Chartered Accountants and Registered Auditors
London, 8 July 1997
Abstract of the Consolidated Balance Sheet of the Trading Operations as at 31 March 1997
. Year ended 31/3/97 . Year ended 31/3/96 .
. £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 Fixed Assets . . . . Tangible Assets . 19,816 . 18,814 Intangible Assets . 1,861 . 2,551 Investments . 4,424 . 2,215 Current Assets . . . . Stocks and work-in-progress 74,630 . 72,974 . Debtors 86,471 . 72,024 . Bank balances & cash 26,760 . 24,611 . . 187,861 . 169,609 . Less: Current Liabilities . . . . Creditors 64,428 . 61,685 . Taxation 3,851 . 3,321 . Bank loans and overdrafts 10,735 . 6,245 .. . 79,014 . 71,251 . Net Current Assets . 108,847 . 98,358 Total Assets less Current Liabilities . 134,948 . 121,938 Less: Creditors due after one year . 12,836 . 16,620 . . 122,112 . 105,318 Capital Employed . . . . Accumulated Fund and Reserves . . . . as originally stated . 120,525 . 106,268 effect of change in accounting . . . (2,755) As restated . 120,525 . 103,513 Minority Interests . 1,587 . 1,805 . . 122,112 . 105,318
Abstract of the Results of the Trading Operations for the year ended 31 March 1997
. Year ended 31/3/97 Year ended 31/3/96
. £,000 £,000
Turnover 278,165 251,410
Surplus for year before tax . .
as originally stated 26,713 20,960
effect of change in accounting . (1,511)
As restated 26,713 19,449
Tax (1,755) (1,506)
Surplus after Tax 24,958 17,943
Surplus attributable
to minority interests (33) 285
Net Surplus for year 24,925 18,228
Abstract of the Consolidated Balance Sheet of the Delegates' Property and Reserve Fund as at 31 March 1997
. Year ended 31/3/97 . Year ended 31/3/96 .
. £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 Fixed Assets . . . . Properties . 73,900 . 73,479 Investments . 92,366 . 81,470 Current Assets . . . . Debtors 258 . 1,248 . Bank balances & cash 4,392 . 1,704 . . 4,650 . 2,952 . Less: Current Liabilities . . . . Creditors and other loans 939 . 490 . Taxation . . 21 . Bank loans and overdrafts 3,591 . 10,521 . . 4,530 . 11,032 . Net Current Assets/(Liabilities) . 120 . (8,080) Total Assets less Current Liabilities . 166,386 . 146,869 Less: Creditors due after one year . 27,148 . 20,318 . . 139,238 . 126,551 Capital Employed . . . . Accumulated Fund . 134,740 . 122,289 Investment Revaluation Reserve . 4,498 . 4,262 . . 139,238 . 126,551 . 1997 1997 1997 1997 1996 . Trading Effective
Operating
ReserveTotal Total . Properties
Retention
ReserveGeneral
FundsDesignated
Funds. . . £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 Incoming Resources . . . . . Income from properties 7,067 1,442 - 8,509 7,956 Income from investments - 8,647 - 8,647 7,226 Transfer from Trading Operations - 4,239 - 4,239 5,219 Total Incoming Resources 7,067 14,328 - 21,395 20,400 Resources used . . . . . Transfer of funds to the University - - (6,000) (6,000) (3,600) Other Expenditure (3,578) (1,935) - (5,513) (4,991) Net Incoming/ (outgoing)
Resources before Transfers3,489 12,393 (6,000) 9,882 11,809 Transfer between funds (4,476) (4,476) - - - Net Incoming/ (outgoing)
Resources for the year(987) 16,869 (6,000) 9,882 11,809 Unrealized surplus on invested funds - 2,507 - 2,507 9,330 Unrealized surplus on revaluation
of investment properties- 236 - 236 445 Currency translation differences
on foreign net investments62 - - 62 241 Net Movement of Funds (925) 19,612 (6,000) 12,687 21,825 Total Funds Brought Forward 66,009 42,542 18,000 126,551 104,726 Total Funds Carried Forward 65,084 62,154 12,000 139,238 126,551
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OUP's Surprising "Charitable Status" the controversial 5th Appendix to TheRemedy
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
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