As usual, Barnes & Noble followed their press release quarterly results with a more detailed SEC quarterly report that offers some additional details on the chain’s performance. As we suggested yesterday, the continuing decline of Nook — with digital content sales falling $7.1 million, or 18.9%, at about $30.5 million for the quarter — was propped up by lawsuit settlement funds and could have been still worse. Noting that “first quarter content unit trends benefited from the eBook settlement,” the company said Barnes & Noble customers “activated” $39.5 million in settlement fund credits, and redeemed almost $22 million of those credits. (Credits from the Apple […]
Booksellers
BN Education Has Flat Quarter
Barnes & Noble Education also reported first quarter fiscal 2017 results Thursday morning, though their mediocre showing was more in line with expectations. Fulfilling our assessment as “the growth company that doesn’t grow,” sales of $239 million were flat even with the addition of 33 new stores “with estimated annual sales of $110 million.” That’s because same-store sales fell 2.8 percent, in particular because textbook sales declined 6.8 percent. Comments from ceo Max Roberts underscored that BN College is officially a student merchandise chain that also sells textbooks rather than the inverse (italics are ours): “The comparable store sales decline is the […]
As Feared, Barnes & Noble Reports Poor Quarter, Reduces Sales Guidance; Riggio Promises Remedies
As publishing people had feared since the abrupt announcement that CEO Ronald Boire was dismissed by Barnes & Noble after less than a year on the job, the retailer reported disappointing results for their fiscal first quarter, ending July 30, on Thursday morning. Sales of $914 million fell 6.6 percent compared to a year ago, with a consolidated net loss of $14.4 million, or $0.20 per share (compared to a loss of $7.8 million, or $0.27 per share, a year ago). That’s well short of analysts’ expectations of $958 million in sales and a loss per share of 13 cents, and investors who fell for the misplaced enthusiasm yet again of […]
Barnes Away
The financial weekly Barron’s has had a soft spot for Barnes & Noble’s stock for years, but unfortunately they have been pretty consistently — and significantly — wrong. Publishers are cranky about the company’s underperformance in the marketplace, as sales keep ebbing even as print book sales rise, and with the abrupt departure of ceo Ronald Boire many people are expecting yet another disappointing set of results when the company reports fiscal first quarter earnings on Thursday morning. Lightly followed by analysts, the consensus expectations for the quarter still estimate sales of $958 million (down about $20.5 million from a year ago), […]
Results Steady At WH Smith, But…
On Wednesday WH Smith issued a short trading notice in advance of their annual results on August 31, saying the report will be “in line with expectations.” Simple enough. That release inspired an equally short but potentially confusing Bloomberg piece that declares, “In the era of Facebook and Twitter, a British newspaper seller pre-dating Queen Victoria is providing bigger gains for investors than modern technology. Over the last five years, WH Smith shares have eclipsed an index that also includes Apple and Google, even as its sales have maintained a steady decline.” Yes, WH Smith’s stock rose sharply between January […]
Merchandise Sales Lift Indigo
Canadian “book, gift and specialty toy retailer” Indigo reported results for their fiscal first quarter, ending July 2. Sales rose 4.4 percent, or $8.2 million, to $193.1 million for the quarter, “driven mainly by the continued double digit growth of key general merchandise categories.” Book sales were up on a same-store basis, but flat overall because they operated one less superstore and three fewer small-format stores than a year ago. Online sales rose 3.8 percent, to $24.9 million. Their net loss was the same, at $9 million. Since a year ago, general merchandise has grown to 34.1 percent of sales (from 30.6 percent) as print has ebbed […]