Sales at Wiley rose 1 percent to $451 million in their fiscal third quarter and adjusted earnings rose 8 percent to 91 cents a share (total earnings of $61 million rose more, due to some special tax benefits, and last year’s Borders writedown).
In the professional/trade division, sales fell 6 percent to $108 million. The company blamed “the loss of comparable sales from the prior year to Borders through December, a weak global economy, and soft retail sales.” Direct contribution to profit dropped 7 percent to $28 million, “reflecting lower revenue partially mitigated by cost saving initiatives.” eBook sales almost doubled, comprising 8.3 percent of the division’s sales at $9 million.
Despite the increases, results were shy of analysts expectations for the quarter, but the company’s full-year guidance was stronger than Wall Street estimates.
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