Books-A-Million said sales for the second quarter ending August 1 dipped 0.4 percent to $107.9 million. Same-store sales dropped 0.3 percent, while their net loss of $5.8 million, or 41 cents per share, nearly doubled compared to a $3 million net loss a year ago. The quarterly results also include “higher income tax expense due to the recording of a non-cash valuation allowance and the reversal of previously recorded income tax benefits.” President and ceo Terrance Finley admitted in the release that the “phenomenal sales” of Harper Lee’s GO SET A WATCHMAN — which he had earlier categorized as the fastest-selling […]
Booksellers
For Now, Profits Rise On Lower Sales for Mondadori’s Publishing
As Italy’s Mondadori waits on today’s board review of their offer to buy the book publishing operations of rival RCS, the company reported results for the first half of 2015. Book division sales of 123 million euros were down 4.3 percent compared to 128.5 million euros a year ago, but EBITDA increased significantly, to 8.5 million euros (up 3.4 million euros), attributed to their “radical restructuring process” as they continued their “actions aimed at reducing fixed costs and cost of personnel.” They took 3.2 million euros in restructuring costs during the period. eBook sales rose 18.6 percent in the first […]
Amazon Stock Soars On Second Quarter Profit
Amazon reported second quarter results after the close of the market Thursday afternoon. Total sales grew 20 percent to $23.18 billion, while operating income was $464 million (compared to a loss of $15 million a year ago) and net profits were $92 million (compared to last year’s net loss of $126 million). Amazon’s stock has spiked as a result, up over 16 percent to around $560 a share Friday morning, an all-time high. A big chunk of that profit looks to be attributable to the fast-growing, high-margin AWS cloud services business rather than their retail operations. AWS operating income this quarter was $391 million, […]
Back to the Basics At Barnes: What’s Been Lost In the eBook Era?
On or about September 1 Barnes & Noble Inc. will return to its roots as a chain of retail bookstores, following the spinoff of Barnes & Noble Education and the nearly-complete winding down of the Nook experiment. So we thought it would be interesting to turn back the reporting clock and see what’s happened to BN Retail — and other major book chains — since the beginning of the modern eBook Era, as a lens for how to view Barnes & Noble’s prospects going forward. Barnes & Noble first became a different company in 2009, when they bought the privately-held BN College. […]
Book Sales Fell Slightly at Barnes & Noble, As Nook Shed Employees
Barnes & Noble filed their full annual SEC report, subsequent to their basic earnings release last Thursday, which offers more specific details about the company’s performance. Perhaps most relevant are the breakdowns on sales at the BN Retail unit. As reported last week, overall sales in this division decreased $186.9 million in the just-closed fiscal year, at $4.108 billion. Actual book sales declined by $5.5 million for the year, “primarily due to lower trade and juvenile sales.” Non-book merchandise rose by $21.9 million during the year, “primarily due to the continued growth of the toys & games and gift businesses.” Online sales […]
Barnes & Noble Finishes with Soft Quarter
Barnes & Noble reported fourth quarter fiscal 2015 results on Thursday morning, more or less in line with analysts’ expectations, losing $19.4 million (37 cents a share) on sales of $1.184 billion. Sales fell in all three divisions and were down $138 million (or 10.4 percent) compared to a year ago — though about half of that gap is due to the inclusion of an extra 14th week in final quarter a year ago, with that extra week having comprised $72 million in sales at the BN and BN College retail units. The extra week affects comparisons for both the […]