Amazon reported second quarter results, with North American media sales of $2.928 billion up 12 percent (from $2.62 billion a year ago), as international media sales rose 9 percent $2.283 billion (from $2.094 billion a year ago). That’s a total of $765 million lower than competitor Apple’s just reported second-quarter media and related “services” sales, now trailing Apple by more than $1 billion for the first half of the year in these comparable segments. Overall Amazon had a strong quarter, with sales of $30.4 billion, up $23.2 billion a year ago, and much stronger net income of $857 million (on $1.285 billion […]
Booksellers
Apple Beats Low Expectations
Apple reported fiscal third quarter results on Tuesday afternoon, posting sales of $42.4 billion and earnings of $7.8 billion. While well below the comparable results from a year ago, investors were expecting a softer quarter; by slightly outperforming analysts’ estimates, Apple’s stock was up by close to 7 percent in after-hours trading. As in the last couple of quarters, with softening hardware sales, the company is focusing more on their still-growing “services” business, which includes iTunes and the app store. At $5.976 billion for the quarter, that line item up was up 19 percent over the same quarter a year ago, […]
Barnes & Noble Education Sales Rise At End of Challenging Year
Barnes & Noble Education reported fourth quarter results on Tuesday morning, with a strong finish to the fiscal year, as sales rose 7.6 percent (or $20.8 million) to $294.8 million, with same-store sales up 4.5 percent in the period. They incurred $8.3 million in restructuring costs related to the Yuzu debacle, however (they have transitioned their failed etextbook platform to VitalSource), leaving the company with an operating loss of $4.2 million and a net loss of $2.8 million in the quarter. For the full fiscal year, sales of $1.808 million were up $35 million (or 2 percent), with a whisper […]
More Barnes & Noble Fiscal Facts
Barnes & Noble followed their headline fourth quarter press release with more extensive SEC filings by the end of the day on Thursday providing a number of additional details worth reviewing: Settlement Credits Perhaps contributing to the company’s slightly positive sales forecast for the new fiscal year, BN says that their customers have been allocated up to $95.7 million in total credits as a result of Apple’s settlement of the ebook pricing lawsuit. Though redemptions of the first round of ebook settlement credits, funded by the publishers, were higher than anticipated — running at about 76 percent of the available funds — for […]
Barnes & Noble Ends Fiscal Year On A Loss
Barnes & Noble reported fiscal fourth quarter sales after the close of the market on Wednesday. Sales fell $33 million (or 3.6 percent) to $877 million in the quarter. Retail sales fell $17 million — even as physical book unit sales as measured by Nielsen Bookscan continue to rise, as Amazon gains market share at BN’s partial expenses, and Nook sales, which don’t have all that much further to fall, declined $10.5 million, to $42 million for the quarter. Same-store sales were down 0.8 percent in the quarter, and the company continued to blame “store closures and lower online sales.” […]
Bookselling: Sales Rise At Indigo In Fourth Quarter, and More
Canada’s dominant bookstore chain Indigo reported results for their fiscal fourth quarter, ending April 2. Sales for the extended 14-week quarter were $220 million (CA), up $34 million from a year ago. On a 13-week, comparable store basis, superstore sales grow 14.7 percent, while small-format stores were up 15.8 percent. Online sales rose 9.8 percent. The net loss for the quarter was $13.4 million, compared to $13.9 million a year ago. General merchandise (including their American Girls boutiques) showed “double-digit growth” during the fiscal year, with books growing by “high single-digits,” particularly “boosted by the trend for adult coloring books.” Sales for the full 53-week fiscal […]