Questor share tip: Bloomsbury Publishing's e-book sales soar Bloomsbury Publishing 117p Questor says BUY Bloomsbury Publishing is riding a "seismic shift" in the way we read. In the first three months of the year, e-book sales jumped by an astonishing 70pc. Sales of its print editions fell 2pc but e-book sales more than made up for this. Of course, Bloomsbury has been positioning itself for these market changes for a number of years. It has been using cashflows from Harry Potter to invest in higher margin, more academic publishing. This is more resilient than traditional publishing and the increasing focus on e-books is likely to be positive for margins. In April, Bloomsbury paid $6.1m (£3.9m) for New York-based Fairchild Books, a publisher of textbooks and educational resources for students of fashion, merchandising, retailing and interior design. It also bought Applied Visual Arts Publishing for £1.7m. This means Bloomsbury is the leading global academic publisher in applied visual arts. Over the first three months of the financial year, good performances came from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's River Cottage Veg Every Day! and the Wisden Cricketers" Almanack. The company has a strong balance sheet, with £10m in cash. Questor thinks the rating remains cheap as the market has not taken account of the fact that earnings forecasts for the publisher have risen by around 30pc over the past year. The shares are trading on a February 2013 earnings multiple of 9.5 times, falling to 8.9. The prospective yield is 4.7pc rising to 4.9pc. Last tipped as a buy at 115p on May 25, the shares are little changed. Questor thinks the rating is undemanding and the shares remain a buy.