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Harper Is Steady In Holiday Quarter, Boosted By Foreign Exchange

February 8, 2018
By Erin Somers

News Corp. reported fiscal second quarter results through December 31, with revenues at HarperCollins nudging up by $3 million to 469 million — with all of the gain and then some coming from foreign exchange, which added $8 million in the quarter. EBITDA of $80 million was up $5 million from a year ago, with foreign exchange adding $1 million.

Along with the currency boost, the company cited “higher backlist sales at the children’s books” as a contributing factor, calling out Ree Drummond’s The Pioneer Woman Cooks and David Walliams’ Bad Dad as their top frontlist titles. The performance is in line with a typical holiday quarter since the acquisition of Harlequin, comparable to last year as well as the same period three years ago (when they had sales of $469 million and EBITDA of $77 million).

Digital sales increased 2 percent over the previous year, “driven by the growth in downloadable audiobook sales,” and comprised 16 percent of consumer revenues for the quarter.

Sales at parent company News Corp. were $2.18 billion, up from $2.12 billion a year ago. Net loss for the quarter was ($66) million, as compared to ($219) million in the prior year, but the improvement was offset by a charge of $174 million related to the new tax bill.

Filed Under: Earnings Reports, Free

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