The Booktopia Group Ltd (ASX: BKG) share price is climbing this morning after the company unveiled a new strategic partnership at the market open.
Why is the Booktopia share price climbing?
Online book retailer Booktopia has announced the finalisation of a deal with global online education technology company, Zookal.
Booktopia will become the exclusive supplier and fulfilment partner for Zookal as part of the new deal. The online retailer will source, supply and distribute all Zookal's physical book orders from "a range of approximately 185,000 titles".
Zookal is forecasting annual book sales revenue of approximately $22 million this financial year, with the Booktopia deal set to start on 1 May 2021. According to today's release, the agreement is revenue and earnings accretive for FY2022.
The Booktopia share price has jumped more than 4 per cent higher on the back of the news. Booktopia also reported a new record for academic sales as universities and schools return to the classroom in 2021.
The coronavirus pandemic disrupted in-classroom learning in 2020 and challenged earnings. However, Booktopia has achieved total academic and corporate book sales of approximately $53 million in the year to date. That figure represents more than 30 per cent on FY2020 figures of $40 million.
Booktopia CEO Tony Nash welcomed the deal, saying:
Our partnership with Zookal will ensure we are continuing to grow our penetration into this sector. Zookal has established a strong reputation for holding an extensive range of titles.
Foolish takeaway
The Booktopia share price is climbing higher this morning on the back of the new partnership agreement. Shares in the Aussie online retailer have jumped nearly 5 per cent at the time of writing, with a market capitalisation of $326 million.
That's despite the broader market struggling to maintain last week's momentum. The S&P/ASX 300 Index (ASX: XKO) has edged 0.2% lower to 6,969 points at the time of writing.
