Bertram Group undertakes a strategic review during the COVID19 pandemic

The sale of Wordery follows the sale of Bertram Group’s European library businesses, Erasmus Antiquariaat en Boekhandel BV and Houtschild Internationale Boekhandel BV, to Italian Casalini Libri SPA, a strategic partner and family-owned business, at the end of March.

These successful disposals of the e-commerce and European library businesses have secured many jobs and, in both cases, complement their new owners’ existing models, thereby securing the futures of both businesses. Wordery has performed well under Aurelius’ ownership receiving prestigious awards continually for the last two years as the best online bookshop.

Separately, as a result of the economic uncertainty created by Brexit and more recently the Covid-19 pandemic, Bertram Group is reviewing its strategic options for the Bertram wholesale division, a significant supplier of books to the High Street, Education Umbrella, a key supplier of books to schools and Dawson Books a major partner of UK Universities and French libraries and Bertram Library Services, which serves public libraries across the UK.

There is no change to the announcement made at the beginning of April of these businesses which are in a furloughed state for the foreseeable future. We are abiding by the rigorous guidelines laid out by Public Health authorities.

We thank you for your patience and understanding in the most challenging trading period of Bertram Group’s history.

Bertram Group
May 3rd 2020

With effect from 1 April 2020

With unprecedented levels of uncertainty caused by the coronavirus crisis, we are taking some short-term measures to help sustain service delivery to our customers in the future.

While measures were undertaken to safeguard the spread of coronavirus across the 7 different locations in which we operate including contactless deliveries with our logistics partners, the risk is proving too great.

We will therefore close Bertram Books temporarily with effect from 1 April 2020.

New and emerging information will guide us through the coming weeks and months, and we will be in touch as soon as we can with information about resuming services and meeting the future need of our customers and book readers.

Finally, we’d like to thank you for your understanding during such strenuous circumstances. Bertram Group