Insider: directors buy this cheap stock at 18-month low

Heavily discounted Bloomsbury Publishing (LSE:BMY) shares worth £135,000 have been bought by two of its senior directors after the FTSE 250 stock sunk to its lowest level in over a year.

The purchases involving chair John Bason and senior independent director Leslie-Ann Reed took place on Friday and Thursday respectively at prices of about 471p.

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The stock was 650p prior to May’s annual results, when lower profits of £42 million met hopes and the company said 2025/26 should be “roughly in line” with the City consensus.

The prolonged softness of the academic publishing market due to budget pressures in the UK and US has been one factor in the sell-off, which Peel Hunt said had left shares on 12 times forecast earnings and an approximate 30% discount to the five-year average.

The City bank reiterated a Buy recommendation and price target of 815p following the Harry Potter publisher’s AGM update in mid-July.

It added: “While we expect the external trading environment for Academic to remain subdued in the near term, we see several positive catalysts in Consumer that could boost the share price into next year.”

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Peel Hunt highlighted a social media post by best-selling author Sarah J. Maas that she has completed the first draft of the sixth book in her franchise A Court of Thorn and Roses.

The bank said a release in the current financial year remained possible, but that 2026/27 was more realistic. It believes that the book has the potential to add about £9 million 2027 earnings forecasts, representing a 20% uplift on its current estimates. 

Bloomsbury made no comment regarding the book or its release date, although its AGM statement did mention that the paperback launch of her title House of Flame and Shadow topped the bestseller lists in the UK and US during June.

On the non-consumer side, it said the integration of Rowman & Littlefield is progressing well following last year’s acquisition, with over 5,300 titles now digitised. 

Berenberg, which has a price target of 825p, said the current valuation failed to reflect the potential upside to estimates from the Consumer division over the next couple of years.

A company that's in form

Informa (LSE:INF) boss Stephen Carter has raised £5.6 million after shares in the events and academic publishing group surged on the back of forecast-beating half-year results.

Carter, who has run FTSE 100-listed Informa since 2013, cut his stake following a 33% rebound for the share price since its post-tariffs low in early April. He still holds more than two million shares and unvested options worth £18.6 million at today’s prices.

The disposal took place last Tuesday at prices of up to 864p, which compared with 826p before upgraded guidance in half-year results and announcement of additional £150 million buyback.

Informa is on course for annual revenues of more than £4 billion for the first time, with adjusted earnings expected to grow by more than 10%. All four of the group’s key metrics rose by more than 20% in the interim results, including earnings per share and free cash flow.

The beat-and-raise results were driven by the business-to-business events division, which hosts Cannes Lions for the marketing industry and World of Concrete in construction. Revenues growth expectations in this division have been upgraded to at least 8% for the year.

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City firm Berenberg said the group has good visibility with 80% of 2025 revenues contracted, committed or booked, and £500 million already contracted for 2026.

It added that market fears over the impact on journals division Taylor & Francis of potential changes to the US government funding of academic research appeared overdone.

The shares trade on a multiple of 15.7 times Berenberg’s forecast earnings, falling to 14.7 times in 2026. The bank lifted its price target to 1,030p, having been at 930p prior to the results.

It said: “As Informa continues to demonstrate resilient growth despite macroeconomic volatility, we expect the shares to re-rate.”

UBS lifted its price target to 1,000p following the results, in line with the recommendation of Deutsche Bank. This would represent record territory for Informa, having peaked at just above 900p in February this year.

Shareholders are due to receive an interim dividend of 7p a share on 19 September, up 9.4% on a year earlier. This year’s expected £350 million of buybacks mean the amount returned since 2022 stands at more than £1.8 billion.