A 13 percent rise in sales and 43 percent hike in profit has seen Oxford University Press record a third consecutive year of strong growth under the tenure of chief executive Henry Reece. Turnover in the year to end-March 2001 grew from £324 million to £366 million, and pretax surplus jumped from £32.6 million to £46.6 million. It was one of OUP's best ever results, but Mr Reece warned that the performance would prove "extremely difficult" to repeat in the future.
In his report to the OUP delegates, Mr Reece said the fiscal period had seen the "convergence of a number of favourable preconditions which have combined to produce an exceptional result". These were a number of one-off sales in OUP Australia and the international education unit; a stable macro-economic environment; a light programme of capital expenditure; and tighter cost controls. OUP's academic division had "one of its best years in recent memory"; OUP in the US experienced "another year of solid growth"; while its ELT businesses produced "sales growth substantially beyond our expectations". OUP Spain extended its "extraordinary record of double-digit" sales growth.
OUP no longer releases divisional results, but said that sales in its scholarly and student units were £110 million, reference and general £65 million, ELT £120 million, and schools £70 million. It is the third conseutive year of strong growth at OUP, since a dip in the year to end-March 1998, when it recorded a pretax surplus of £13 million on sales of £282 million - its lowest level of profit since the fiscal year to end-March 1991.
Mr Reece, who joined in July 1998, has presided over a profit margin increase from 5 percent to 12.8 percent, with sales up by more than £80 million. The press plans to invest substantially in infrastructure as well as accelerate its investment in new publishing. This is expected to reduce surplus next year. OUP was now funding "probably the two largest humanities research projects in the UK" - the
All but two staff at law publisher Blackstone Press are to leave the company when it joins new owner Oxford University Press on 1st November. The 14 remaining employees have chosen not to relocate from London. Heather Saward, Blackstone founder and editorial director, said: "Many staff were offered jobs, but a lot decided that a move to Oxford was not practical."
Ms Saward and co-founder Alistair MacQueen are to remain with Blackstone in a consultancy role for a year. "It is our intention to ensure a smooth transition," Ms Saward said. The two, along with sales and marketing director Jeremy Stein, were not offered full-time jobs at OUP in line with the sale agreement. Rumours that OUP would look to dispose of some Blackstone titles were unconfirmed.
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