Over at Borders, sales for the quarter fell 12.7 percent, at $595.5 million, with an operating loss of $39 million that was equal to last year’s deficit. (Their adjusted EBITDA loss of $34.2 million was higher than the $25.5 million a year ago.) The same-store sales declines were almost as brutal as the overall drop: superstore comps were down 12.1 percent (and still down 8.1 percent excluding multimedia), while Walden comps were down 12.7 percent. Total superstore sales were $492 million (down 12.1 percent), with Walden sales of $73 million down 20.3 percent from fewer stores. Calling the results “both […]
Booksellers
Sales Drop Lessens at Books-A-Million
BAM announced third quarter sales of $111 million, as same-store sales declined 1.9 percent compared to a year ago. Their net loss of $1.6 million was an improvement over last year’s loss of $2.2 million. Bear in mind, however, that for all booksellers comparisons this reporting quarter, the bar is already quite low. It was this time a year ago, for example, that BAM reported same-store sales had dropped 9.9 percent. So this time they are a doing just a little worse than last year–but last year they were performing terribly. CEO Clyde Anderson reiterated, “Comparable store sales for the […]
More Financial News: Bigger than Expected Loss at Hastings; Santillana Deal May Fall Through
In other financial news, sales at Hastings fell 1.7 percent in the third quarter, at $112.3 million, with the company showing a net loss of $3.4 million–at -36 cents a share that was well below what the company’s single analyst was forecasting, and $0.7 million worse than Hasting’s own internal forecast. As a result, they formally reduced their guidance on full-year earnings by five cents a share. According to the company’s category breakouts, book sales comps were just above flat at 0.2 percent for the quarter (also up 1 percent for the year), but publishers probably don’t benefit from the […]
Indigo Comp Sales Slide Modestly
Second quarter sales at Canada’s Indigo rose by $1.7 million to $207 million (Canadian), driven by the opening of four new stores, as same-store superstore sales fell by 0.9 percent. Online sales continued to decline, down over 5 percent at $20 million, and net earnings fell by $1 million, to $2.2 million. CEO Heather Reisman said that their “operating investment” in the Shortcovers initiative has been a drag on earnings–and it’s not clear from their reported results that it is generating any meaningful revenue. Reisman added, “We are satisfied with our results through what has proven to be a very […]
Market News: K-12 Down Sharply at McGraw-Hill; Market Kicks BN
McGraw-Hill reported third quarter sales, with their education division dropping 11.6 percent to $1 billion compared, as operating profit fell 16 percent to $298 million. The decline came entirely from the K-12 line, which fell almost 20 percent, “in a 2009 state new adoption market that deteriorated all year as budgetary pressures led a growing number of school districts to postpone purchases.”Release Meanwhile, Barnes & Noble can’t catch a break from Wall Street analysts no matter what they do. On Friday Credit Suisse reduced their target price for the company to $16 per share (about two dollars below its current […]
Amazon's Earnings Spike
Amazon well-exceeded analysts expectations, reporting third quarter earnings about 40 percent higher than predicted. And the company thanked Kindle, in their traditionally non-specific way: “Kindle has become the #1 bestselling item by both unit sales and dollars – not just in our electronics store but across all product categories on Amazon.” Earlier in the day, they also announced a Kindle for PC application to allow reading on computers. Sales rose 28 percent (including the incorporation of Zappos) to $5.45 billion for the quarter, as net income rose 68 percent to $199. North American media sales, which had unexpectedly stalled last […]