Fourth quarter sales at Books-A-Million fell 6 percent on a same-store basis and 4.6 percent overall at $157 million, but net income of $11.9 million was up more than 6 percent. For the full year sales of $509 million were down 1.3 percent, declining 3.8 on a same-store basis, and net income rose to $13.8 million. The board authorized another stock repurchasing program of up $5 million.
Booksellers
Profits Rise at Harlequin As Currency Holds Down Sales
Harlequin’s parent company Torstar reported that the publishing unit had fourth quarter sales of $122 million (CA), down three percent from last year, but EBITDA jumped to $21.7 million, almost 40 percent higher than the $15.6 million a year ago. (And yes, that gives them EBITDA margin of of 17.8 percent.) They say “underlying” sales rose $2.6 million, while the strengthening Canadian dollar cost them $6.6 million. For the full year, sales of $493 million were up 4.3 percent over the previous year. EBITDA for the year was $88.2 million, up 22 percent.Release
Barnes & Noble Reports Decent Earnings On Declining Sales
Barnes & Noble reported third quarter sales of $2.175 billion for the period ending January 10. Same-store sales at regular BN outlets were down 5.5 percent compared to a year, and fell 4.7 percent overall, at $1.4 billion. College bookstore sales of $566 million were down 1.3 percent. BN.com sales grew 32 percent to $210 million–and were up 67 percent in the month of January, driven by nook sales. (BN’s quarters no longer align following the integration of the College division, but last year in March store comps were down 7.3 percent–so they are underperforming an already-lowered bar.) During the […]
Bezos Admits to "Millions" of Kindles, As Amazon Grows 42 Percent
In reporting, Jeff Bezos finally mentioned something involving numbers with respect to Kindles, which are now owned by “millions of people.” And ratio of Kindle sales to print sales continues to grow: “when we have both editions, we sell 6 Kindle books for every 10 physical books.” Bezos even indicated specifically, “this is year-to-date and includes only paid books — free Kindle books would make the number even higher.” Amazon reported a huge fourth quarter, with sales of $9.52 billion, 42 percent higher than a year ago. Net income rose even more, up 71 percent at $384 million. North American […]
WH Smith Holiday Comps Down 5 Percent
In a brief trading update, UK retailer WH Smith congratulated itself for having same-store sales at their high street stores decline 5 percent for the eleven-week holiday selling period ending January 23–slightly weaker than the 4 percent comp decline for the past 21 weeks.Company release
Indigo Grows Sales and Profits
In the one positive earnings report from the holiday period for an English-language bookselling chain, Canada’s dominant Indigo said that the same-store superstore sales rose 3.4 percent for the quarter ending December 26, while their smaller format stores were down 1.6 percent. Overall sales rose $10.2 million or 3 percent to $340.2 million (CA). Net after-tax earnings of $34.5 million were 29 percent higher than a year ago. But Indigo still suffers from competition with Amazon online, with online sales declining 2.7 percent to $29.3 million.Release