First Day Sales

Bloomsbury Publishing PLC 23 June 2003 23 June 2003 FIRST DAY'S SALES OF HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX Bloomsbury Publishing Plc announced today that sales for Harry Potter and the Order of The Phoenix are in line with the Group's trading statement on Friday, June 20. Sales of the new book have been considerable and, according to Nielsen BookScan, the independent book trade monitoring service, first day sales in the UK were 1,777,541 copies broken down as 1,598,285 copies of the children's edition and 179,256 copies of the adult edition. Nielsen BookScan's comparable total figure for first day sales for the previous title Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire on July 8, 2000 was 372,775. Commenting Nigel Newton, Bloomsbury's Chairman, said: 'We have made a good start to the launch of the fifth and latest Harry Potter book. Estimated sales to date are in line with our recent trading statement.' The build up to the latest Harry Potter publication has already stimulated increased demand in the other four books in the series, two (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban) of which have gone back in to the Nielsen BookScan top 10 bestseller list, joining the children's edition of Harry Potter and the Order of The Phoenix which is number one this week and the adult edition of Harry Potter and the Order of The Phoenix which is number two. Ends Enquiries: Financial Dynamics Charlie Palmer/Tim Spratt Tel: +44 (0)20 7831 3113 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange