Now that no one else seems to want its stock since reducing forecasts for the year when reporting quarterly earnings a week ago, Barnes & Noble Education announced that the board has authorized stock repurchases of up to $50 million worth of shares. That has given the company’s shares a small boost in price this morning, though BNED still trades below $9 a share — down over 40 percent from its recent peak on November 27. With a current market capitalization of only about $425 million, that repurchase authority covers a meaningful portion of shares outstanding.
Bookstores
Shareholders Approve Plan to Take Books-A-Million Private
As expected, Books-A-Million shareholders approved the Anderson family’s plan to take the company private in a deal worth $3.25 a share. The transaction is set to close on Thursday, December 10, and, according to BAMM’s announcement, the merger agreement was adopted by the stockholders representing approximately 88.3 percent of the aggregate voting power of outstanding common stock, as well as by 66.3 percent of shareholders not affiliated with the Anderson family, “thus satisfying the ‘majority of the minority’ stockholder approval condition in the merger agreement.” In their most recent quarterly filing, posted last month, Books-A-Million reported third quarter sales of […]
Barnes & Noble Finishes Down Close to 17 Percent
Barnes & Noble stock rebounded a little from its morning low on Friday to finish at just above $10 a share — still down $17 percent on the day (with Barnes & Noble Education falling over 7 percent as people sold anything either Barnes or Noble). In a down market overall, Barnes & Noble is declining again Monday morning, down over 7 percent so far. In the company’s quarterly SEC filing, they detailed the components of the recent period’s sales decline. The problematic relaunch of the BN.com website decreased online sales by $17.5 million — or 22 percent, which is significant […]
People, Etc.
At Catapult, Jennifer Abel Kovitz has been promoted to associate publisher and director of marketing, while Julie Buntin moves up to director of writing programs. The Costco Pennie’s Pick for December is Danielle Steel‘s Precious Gifts. This year on American Express Small Business Saturday, the Obama family visited Washington’s recently-opened Upshur Street Books. They purchased Purity, by Jonathan Franzen; Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Nights, by Salman Rushdie; Elske, On Fortune’s Wheel, and Jackaroo, by Cynthia Voigt; A Snicker of Magic, by Natalie Lloyd; Stargirl, by Jerry Spinelli; Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Hard Luck, by Jeff Kinney; and Dork Diaries […]
Books-A-Million Flat On Slightly Higher Comps
Still a publicly-traded company for now, Books-a-Million reported third quarter results on Tuesday afternoon. Sales of $101.6 million were $400,000 ahead of sales from a year ago, with same-store sales up 1.6 percent. But the company’s loss was slightly higher, by $200,000, at $7.1 million or 50 cents a share. The company attributed that to $800,000 in expenses related to the Anderson family’s pending buyout. In the release, ceo Terrance Finley said, “We saw improved sales in our core book and general merchandise categories, led by the positive impact of the growing coloring book trend. We also hosted several author events, namely those highlighting […]
Bookselling: Binnacle Books in Beacon, NY; Second Store for Village Books; and More
Binnacle Books opened in Beacon, NY earlier this month. The new-and-used bookstore is co-owned by Katie Ryan, Annmarie Nye and Corey Eastwood, the latter also owning part of Book Thug Nation in Williamsburg. “People are so excited and supportive,” Ryan told Philipstown.info. “The community is already giving us a lot of love. A lot of people have been coming in and telling us that this town needed a bookstore. It feels really good to have that kind of symbiosis.” Village Books & Paper Dreams has opened a second location in Lynden, WA, about 20 miles away from its flagship store […]