Google reported first quarter earnings Wednesday afternoon that were somewhat short of analysts’ expectations on both sales and earnings. Our narrow interest in their earnings reports remains the hints regarding their expanding Play store. The category that includes Play results — “other revenues” — was up 48 percent compared to a year ago, at $1.554 billion. The same revenue line comprised $1.65 for the previous holiday quarter, and just under $5 billion for all of 2013. As we noted earlier, this business category includes the Google Play store; their hardware line (Nexus devices and Chromecasts, but not Chromebooks); and their […]
Booksellers
Weak Sales Continue at Books-A-Million, With Q4 Profits
Books-A-Million reported fourth quarter and full year results Thursday afternoon. Unlike last year’s 14-week quarter, a once-every-six-years occurrence, BAMM’s current Q4 reverted to the usual 13 week period. Sales continued to decline, down 3.7 percent to $157.9 million compared to $163.9 million a year ago. Same-store sales continued their pattern of quarterly declines, down 1.8 percent, but net income, at $11.2 million for the quarter was up from the $8.1 million reported during the same period last year. For the year, covering 52 weeks (compared to last year’s 53 weeks) net sales decreased 5.6 percent to $470.3 million (from $498.4 […]
Rowman & Littlefield Says Publishing Unit Has “Best Year” Ever; Sales Rise for Indigo But Earnings Drop Sharply
Rowman & Littlefield announced their 2013 results informally, saying that book and journal sales rose by $4.1 million (or more than 8 percent) to $51 million for the year, helped by their acquisition of Down East Books. Digital products comprised just under 10 percent of publishing sales. They launched an ebookstore within their web site last summer, selling “around 12,000 ebooks” directly. Their distribution companies NBN and NBNInternational had client sales of $79 million in the year. CEO Jed Lyons declared in the announcement: “2013 was our best year since we started the business in 1975.” This time a year […]
Amazon Continues Growing, But Less Than Analysts Guessed; Income Rises At Bertelsmann
Amazon reported fourth quarter sales after the close of the market on Thursday, with sales of $25.6 billion (up 20 percent) and net income of $239 million, or 51 cents a share. (That’s a profit margin of less than 1 percent.) Analysts were expecting slightly higher sales and considerably better earnings, so the stock is down about 9 percent — or roughly $35 a share — in morning trading so far. Before you get carried away, however, note that the stock was up $19 a share yesterday ahead of the earnings. And even at today’s lower levels, shares are still 37 percent […]
Waterstone’s Congratulates Itself As Sales Fell Another 3 Percent
The Bookseller highlights cheerful remarks from Waterstone’s managing director James Daunt that their three-year turnaround plan is “on track” after the company’s results — already dated — through April 2013 were revealed. The silver lining is that sales only fell 3 percent, and their operating losses were also smaller. Daunt adds: “We put together a plan three years ago and we think we have delivered pretty much to the plan. These results are clearly a step forward but we have much more to do.” As you can see, sales at the chain are down 30 percent from their peak 5 years […]
Amazon Grows In Fourth Quarter, and Stock Slides On Lower Than Expected Sales and Earnings
Amazon reported fourth quarter sales after the close of the market on Thursday, with sales of $25.6 billion (up 20 percent) and net income of $239 million, or 51 cents a share. (That’s a profit margin of less than 1 percent.) Analysts were expecting higher sales and earnings, and the stock is down sharply in early after-hours trading but finished down $19 a share — after gaining about the same amount during regular trading, so a wash on the day. North American media sales in the quarter were $3.5 billion, up 21 percent, and international media sales were up only […]