Booksellers

Canadian “book, gift and specialty toy retailer” Indigo reported results for their fiscal third quarter, ending December 31. Sales rose 4.5 percent, or $17.1 million, to $400.3 million (CA) for the quarter, driven by “lifestyle and toy categories” which, as was the case the previous quarter, was “partly offset by the declining trend for adult coloring books.” Total book sales were up 3.8 percent on a same-store basis, with a 3.1 percent increase in superstores. Small-format store comps, however, slid 0.8 percent, as the decline in adult coloring book sales hit the smaller stores more, where the “product mix is focused […]

Amazon reported fourth quarter sales after the close of the market on Wednesday, with results that surprised analysts by underperforming on sales growth versus expectations, even though they had higher income than expected. Since the stock price is driven by growth first and earnings later, shares declined from their all-time high in early trading, down about 3 percent in the first half hour on Friday. Investors were also unhappy with first quarter 2017 guidance, with lower profits expected again due to “continuation of the step-up investment that we saw in the second half of last year.” Net sales for the quarter were […]

Apple reported sales for the holiday quarter — Q1 2017 in their fiscal year — that were slightly ahead of the company’s record performance a year ago, and modestly ahead of analysts’ estimates as well. Sales were $78.4 billion, with earnings per share of $3.36. The services segment, which includes iBooks (and digital audiobooks sold through iTunes) plus a whole lot else, continued its growth at a comparable pace to recent quarters, at $7.172 billion, up 18 percent from a year ago. (The underlying percentage growth was probably higher, since last year’s results included a big one-time patent lawsuit settlement of […]

We are accustomed to mediocre holiday sales reports from Barnes & Noble, since the last time the bookseller recorded an actual gain in core, same-store holiday book sales was the 2011 season. But even by that low bar, BN outdid themselves in holiday disappointment this time around: Same-store sales for the nine-week holiday period decreased 9.1 percent — as online sales gained “approximately 2 percent.” The company didn’t try to pretend this was ok: “We were not pleased with our results,” ceo Len Riggio says in the release, and he really can’t blame this on the fired Ron Boire. Riggio […]