WH Smith announced earnings for the year ended August 31, 2019, with revenues for the overall group of £1.4 billion, up from £1.3 billion. The growth is all in the company’s fast international travel business — now about to double in size via a major acquisition. Alongside earnings, the company announced an agreement to purchase of the Las-Vegas based Marshall Retail Group, for $400 million. Marshall has 170 North American locations, 59 of them inside airports, mostly selling news, gifts, and convenience products. The purchase builds on their 2018 acquisition of InMotion in the US for $208 million (following an […]
AAP Stats Show Good July for Children’s Books
AAP released its July StatShot report, showing reasonable activity for children’s books in particular. As has been the case for much of this year, the final adult trade comparison data from 2018 was revised, so comparisons are difficult. Trade sales were $543.7 million, up from a revised $506.5 million last year (first reported as $528 million), and ahead of the four-year average of $529.5 million. Adult trade sales for July 2019 were $384 million — which is better than the final count of $369.6 million for July 2018, but behind the originally-reported $389.2 million. Children’s trade sales were up by […]