Books-a-Million reported fourth quarter sales after the close of the market on Monday, with sales rising 1.8 percent (or $3 million) to $161 million and net income jumping by 63 percent, up to $18.9 million, for the period ending January 31. The modest sales gain helped BAMM grow slightly for the year, with sales of $474 million rising $3.7 million from a year ago. More importantly, the growth in fourth quarter profits left the bookseller with net income from continuing operations of $2.9 million for the fiscal year, compared to a net loss of $8.4 million the year before. Same-store sales rose 1.7 […]
Booksellers
Barnes & Noble Discloses More Figures, Buys More Time from Samsung
As we’ve pointed out, Barnes & Noble’s sales of Nook-branded devices have been running well below projections and their purchase promise made to Samsung. In an amendment to that agreement dated March 7, Samsung agreed to give Nook until June 30, 2016 to purchase at least 1 million co-branded tablets — giving them an extra 9 months to try to meet their minimum. Barnes & Noble’s quarterly SEC filing also provides some additional breakdowns on their business components. In the retail stores, you can now see the balance between growing toys & games sales versus what the company has called stabilizing […]
Barnes & Noble Sales Ebb; Earnings Improve Less Than Expected
Barnes & Noble reported fiscal third quarter earnings on Tuesday morning for the period ending January 31, with sales of $1.96 billion down $35 million from a year ago. EBITDA improved by $24 million to $197 million, and consolidated earnings rose to $72 million (93 cents per share), compared to $63 million (86 cents per share) a year ago. That’s better for the company’s basic health, but it’s much lower than analysts had expected, looking for profits of $1.19 to $1.41 a share according to various estimates. More importantly, the apparent “gain” actually just reflects losing less money on Nook as those sales evaporate; EBITDA at […]
Waterstones’ Sales Continuing Falling, But Daunt Expects Operating Profit Soon
Following the results of Waterstones in the UK is confusing, for two reasons. The first is that the privately-held company releases data on a delayed basis; in late January or early February, they file a government document that shows sales for the fiscal year ending the previous April. (So their results for the year ending April 2014 have just been filed.) The other reason is that the UK media is continuously eager to focus on how Waterstones is being saved, and managing director James Daunt is always ready with provocative quotes to fill the stories. Looking just at the numbers, […]
Merch Sales Lift Results At Indigo
Canada’s Indigo — the country’s “largest book, gift and specialty toy retailer” — reported results for the quarter ending December 27, with sales rising 2 percent to $339 million (CA), and adjusted EBITDA increasing $8 million to $41 million. Same-store sales were up 5.5 percent at their superstores and down marginally in their smaller format stores, while online sales rose 10.6 percent, to $46 million. The improvements were driven by the company’s expanding merchandise sales, with “continued double digit growth in lifestyle, paper and toys, including the highly successful American Girls” boutiques. The company insists that “the core trade books […]
Amazon Has Slow Media Growth, But Slight Earnings Improvement Drives Stock
The sometimes inexplicable world of Amazon performance metrics continues. The company reported fourth quarter sales on Thursday after the close of the market, with relatively modest growth — up 15 percent to $29.33 billion, below analysts’ expectations of $29.7 billion. But their meager net income of seven-tenths of one percent — $214 million, or 45 cents a share — was much better than the miniscule earnings Wall Street was prepared to expect (22 cents a share), and so the stock has risen about 10 percent (or $30 a share) after an hour of trading on Friday. But let’s focus on the data […]