MPS Ltd - Stock Valuation and Financial Performance

Two brothers Daniel and Alexander Macmillan founded Macmillan in England in 1843. They started publishing the works of great authors and writers. As the company grew, an ambitious expansion programme was initiated and as a result Macmillan has been operating in India since 1892. The Macmillan India slogan ‘Redefining Learning’ symbolises the innovative, customer-focused and forward-looking spirit of the company.

The company is the part of Macmillan Group. It is one of the large publishing groups that serve third party clients and its own companies with services including typesetting and data capture, web design and development in India, print sourcing facilities in the Far East, and warehousing and fulfillment in the UK, USA and Australia. Its client-list includes many other publishers, ranging from Reed Elsevier, Bloomsbury to Yellow Pages.

Macmillan is one of the largest and best-known publishers in the world. It is characterised by high-quality academic, educational, fiction and non-fiction publishing in many forms: educational course materials, science, technology and medicine, college textbooks, dictionaries, monographs and reference materials.

Macmillan Publishers India enjoys a cutting-edge niche as partner-in-progress in the socio-economic development of the country. It is in this field that Macmillan's flame burns the brightest – publishing educational books and materials for over 100 years.

Macmillan India has over 2,500 titles in its list and has played a significant role in the growth and success of Indian writing. The company has relationships with over 15,000 schools all over India and with its 22 offices and showrooms, possibly the widest all-India network.

As a major player in providing typesetting, data coding and conversion and editorial services to publishers globally, Macmillan has been a pioneer in the information technology-enabled service (ITES) space. It started its export-oriented typesetting operations in 1975. Mainly British and European publishers have driven the market so far but now US publishers are looking actively at outsourcing to India. This will have a positive impact on the current export market estimated to be around Rs 8,000 million (US$ 181.82 million) (Source: Industry estimates). Macmillan employs over 3,000 staff of which around 700 are in its domestic publishing business.

Macmillan also offers web-based solutions and IT services to publishers globally through its dedicated software services unit ‘emacmillan’. The market opportunities for this sector, too, are growing rapidly.

With a company-owned press in Chennai delivering high-quality production, Macmillan Publishers India has possibly the best editorial resources in the country. It focuses on publishing innovative, need-based, stimulating and enlightening books, which are true companions to teachers and students.

The company views its social responsibilities seriously. All books are thoroughly reviewed and processed to ensure they are accurate and the right message and content is passed on to young learners. Not surprisingly, it was chosen by UNICEF as a critical partner in the publication of the ‘Meena’ books – a venture of high social impact aiming at empowering the underprivileged girl child.

Macmillan India has been a pioneer in e-learning and runs two web-based portals, one on English Language Teaching and the other on Executive Development Programmes on important and emerging management areas. These are in association with premier institutes like IIM Calcutta, MDI Gurgaon, IIT Delhi and IIFT, Delhi.

The company has also made a mark in higher education, particularly in the areas of management and has published enduring best sellers like Shiv Khera's ‘You Can Win’, ‘Living with Honour’ and ‘Freedom is not Free’ – having sold more than a million copies.

Product range of the company:

Macmillan Publishers India publishes a wide range of books for schools, colleges, individual buyers, corporates and academic books for reference and research. The company issues approximately 250 new titles each year and has evolved a large number of new Indian authors. Among the rich author list of Macmillan India are Rabindranath Tagore (Macmillan was the sole copyright owner for decades), I K Gujral, Jaswant Singh, I G Patel, C N R Rao, M S Swaminathan, Shiv Khera, Arindam Chaudhuri, Kapil Dev, Ankit Fadia and other illustrious academicians, scientists and teachers.

The company’s titles include books which have been selling for more than 50 years like Nesfield’s Grammar, Hall & Knight and Loney’s Mathematics books. Also included in its list are a wide range of dictionaries and encyclopaedias.

Awards/Achievements

• Macmillan has won 23 awards for excellence in publishing and production in the last five years. The company has also won the Capexil Award for highest exports in its category continuously for the last 22 years.
• The company has been selected as a Business Superbrand by Superbrand Council of India.

Recent developments

• With the aim of providing quality books in regional markets, Macmillan has started publishing programmes for various states. Its books for the State of Maharashtra have already gained wide acceptance.
• Recently the company launched a major school-testing project – the International Assessments for Indian Schools – in partnership with the University of New South Wales, Australia. This is an annual testing and assessment project that offers scientific and structured tests in various subjects for classes three to twelve. The students are provided with highly valuable diagnostic reports based on their strengths and weaknesses.