Barnes & Noble reported sales for holidays, with same-store sales gaining a little bit over the nine weeks ending December 29, up 1.3 percent. “Although we got off to a slow start, sales picked up momentum as we moved deeper into the season,” chairman Len Riggio says in the announcement, with same-store sales in the smaller window between Black Friday and New Year’s Day rising 4 percent. (The latter is not the traditional measure and does not deserve to feature in anyone’s headline; historically the chain has always reported the full nine-week holiday sales period.) The small improvement still marks […]
Booksellers
Barnes & Noble Education Shares Fall Hard On Poor Quarter
Barnes & Noble Education underperformed again, with second quarter sales falling 8.1 percent to $815 million, and investors headed straight for the door. Ninety minutes after the market opening, shares were down approximately 28 percent, to about $4.60 a share, which would be a new all-time low for the stock if it holds. (At that price, the market cap is around $209 million.) Sales at the College stores declined $54.4 million, with comparable store sales down 5.6 percent, “primarily due to lower textbook sales.” Sales from net new stores (new stores less closed stores) declined by $15.2 million, compared to an increase […]
Barnes & Noble Has Slimmer Loss, Smaller Sales Decline
If you are looking to reassure yourself as Barnes & Noble heads into the crucial holiday sales period, then here is what you will focus on in the company’s fiscal second quarter earnings report this morning. Same-store sales fell by only 1.4 percent, which the company calls a “significant improvement” and touts as their “best quarterly performance since the fourth quarter of fiscal 2016.” With a low bar set after some poor holidays — down 6.4 percent last Christmas, following a 9.1 percent same-store decline for Christmas 2016 — the company expects to see “continued sales improvement during the holiday […]
Indigo Revenue and Profitability Down, Online Sales Up
Indigo released second quarter results for the period ended September 29. Revenue was $216.3 million (CA), a decrease of $8.3 million, “driven by the closure of a few low performing stores and renovations in 12 stores as the Company continues to transform its retail operations.” They closed two stores in the quarter, one of which is being relocated. Comparable retail superstore sales for the quarter decreased 1.4 percent, driven by softer store traffic, while small format store comp sales increased 3.1 percent. Meanwhile, the net loss increased measurably, at $19.1 million ($.70 per share) compared to a net loss of […]
Better Profits, Stock Drop at Amazon
Amazon reported third quarter results on Thursday afternoon, with much better than expected net income of $2.88 billion, on sales of $55.6 billion (up 20 percent). But the stock is down on the news — albeit after rising 7 percent during the day on Thursday — declining 8.5 percent or about $150 a share in the first hour of trading on Friday. The reason is that investors didn’t like the forecast sales growth for the big fourth quarter of only 10 to 20 percent (with operating income expected to be anywhere from flat, at $2.1 billion, up to $3.6 billion. […]
WH Smith Has Stable Profit, Still Declining Sales in High Street
UK book retailer WH Smith announced preliminary results for the year ended August 31, 2018. Overall, revenue increased 2 percent, at £1.262 million this year, with group trading profit up 3 percent, to £163 million, both driven by their travel division. Revenues from the High Street bookstores declined 3 percent, on both a like-for-like and overall basis, down to £590 million from £610 million. Book sales, however, declined further, falling 6 percent like-for-like. Stationery, meanwhile, continues to grow and now accounts for “about half” of High Street sales. (The company further noted it had successfully capitalized on the slime trend, […]