For the second quarter ending August 1, total sales for Barnes & Noble declined 5% to $1.2 billion. Store sales were off 5%, to $1 billion, while sales through Barnes & Noble.com increased 2% to $102 million. Comparable store sales fell 6.9% for the quarter, within the Company’s guidance for a decrease of 5% to 7%. Net profit fell to $12.3 million, or 21 cents per share, from $16.8 million, or 27 cents per share last year. Excluding a benefit from an insurance settlement, net income was 14 cents per share. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters, on average, had expected […]
Booksellers
Book Comps, Overall Results Fall for Hastings
Second quarter sales at Hastings fell $8.5 million, or 6.7 percent, to $117 million, while net earnings dropped to $396,000, compared to net earnings of $660,000 in last year’s second quarter. Same-store sales for books also fell 1.7 percent for the quarter, primarily as a result of lower sales of new hardcovers, new trade paperbacks, and magazines, partially offset by strong sales of used and value books. Release
Summer Report Card
With earnings results announced from most of the publicly-reporting companies with trade publishing divisions, we’ve assembled a little chart of the recent summer school grades. The primary drivers of success in the current marketplace are either a) Stephenie Meyer or b) currency exchange. When underlying businesses are strong most companies will tell you that foreign exchange doesn’t matter that much to them but in a declining market the impact–both positive and negative–becomes more prominent. PublishersLagardere +10.4% (FX was marginal; rest of year comp will be lower due to Stephenie Meyer)Harlequin +8.7% (all FX)S&S -2.5% (“principally” FX)Penguin +11% […]
Indigo Up Slightly In First Quarter, But Loss Widens
Sales at Canada’s dominant bookseller Indigo rose 1.6 percent in the first quarter at $193.6 million (Canadian), with same-store superstore sales up 1.4 percent and same-store sales at their smaller-format stores up 0.8 percent. Online sales continue to decline, though, down 9.1 percent to $19.1 million, and the company says they have “eliminated certain non profitable business.” Their net loss was worse, at $2.3 million compared to a $1.2 million loss a year ago. CEO Heather Reisman says the “drop in bottom line results reflects our increased operating investment this year in both Pistachio and Shortcovers.” (Pistacho is “an eco-friendly […]
Amazon Media Sales Stop Growing
As Amazon’s sales keep growing, the company is taking a hit on the income side. For their second quarter, sales rose 14 percent, to $4.65 billion, but operating income feel 27 percent at $159 million and net income fell 10 percent to $142 million. Among the hits to earnings were $51 million in their legal settlement with Toys R Us, and $30 million blamed on foreign exchange (but they had a $53 million non-cash gain from the sale of European dvd rental assets). While those sales grew overall, in the segment we all care about–media–the decelaration was dramatic. North American […]
Waterstone's Makes Year's Drop in Sales and Profits Sound Strong
Waterstone’s parent has updated the sparse sales statistics provided in late April with their “preliminary results” for the fiscal year. The basic numbers are the same (comp sales still fell 3.8 percent), though they add actual sales for the year–548.3 million pounds–and profits, at 10 million pounds down 38.5 percent from the previous year. The decline in earnings is attributed to “the sales decline, a 10 basis points reduction in gross margin due to the higher mix of online sales, and £2.0m of book hub start-up costs, partially offset by cost control measures, including bonus savings.” They also too “exceptional […]