Bloomsbury has announced it will repay almost £700,000 to staff who took a pay cut during the first months of the pandemic, following the publisher’s most successful interim results since 2008.
Seven hundred and fifty members of staff worldwide will be reimbursed the salary reduction, which took place during April, May and June. The pay cut was set on a descending scale, with top earners reduced by 30%. Staff will be reimbursed this month.
“Our staff have been incredibly resilient and we are lucky,” said c.e.o. Nigel Newton. “It is just nice that the staff supported the company when it needed it.”
Speaking to The Bookseller, he added: “Staff at Bloomsbury have been incredible during the pandemic. This has led to a much better than expected result, our highest first half since 2008. It was prompted by having the right books at the right moment and also our by our decision not to delay titles because of the pandemic. Our staff supported the company when we needed it and now with this outcome of our profits being 60% up we are able to repay them — and with our thanks.”
The publisher has seen “signficantly higher” online book sales and e-book revenues leading to year-on-year profit growth of 60% to £4m in the six months ending 31st August 2020.
Source: The Bookseller