WH Smith presented the market with a pleasant surprise, reporting sales of 1.352 million pounds, up 4 percent for the year, with profits rising 15 percent to 76 million pounds, above analysts’ expectations. Like-for-like book sales were “flat excluding the impact of last year’s Harry Potter release” (aka “down”). “Gross margin was up year on year. We were pleased with our share performance versus the general high street,” the company said. And among their travel stores, “extended books charts, improved display of chart titles and strong promotions have contributed to our books performance and we have also seen an encouraging […]
Booksellers
As in US, Waterstone's Sales Fall
Citing a “tough consumer environment” and in particular a “a weaker book market,” HMV said in a brief trading update for the 18 weeks weeks ending August 30 that same-store sales at the Waterstone’s chain fell 4.3 percent, and declined 1.7 percent after you take out Harry Potter. Total sales at Waterstone’s fell 5.9 percent for the period. The chain launched the Sony Reader yesterday with about 7,000 titles available (they expect to have about 20,000 titles by the end of the year) and has enrolled 1.8 million loyalty card members.Statement
Calmer Heads on Borders' Prospects
After the stock market’s enthusiastic reception to Borders quarterly report showing a big sales drop and a continuing loss, analysts who cover the stock sobered up a bit. David Schick at Stifel Nicolaus & Co. kept his “hold” rating saying Borders “has yet to prove it can stabilize these metrics and the top-line, let alone grow.” But he did note, “with constant, and really mounting, pressure from online delivery, online e-books, and retail discounters, (Borders) clearly has a tough environment in which to turn around,” he said. “In a sense, that makes margin stabilization more impressive.” Goldman Sachs, which always […]
Borders Sales Fall, But Debt Is Trimmed
Wall Street seems to think that Borders can survive following a second quarter report showing weak sales but a reduced operating loss and slimmer debt-load, with shares up twenty-five percent over yesterday’s close in early trading. (That said, the stock price is still below the strike price of the options granted to Pershing Square earlier this year when they provided the company with an emergency loan.) Sales from continuing operations in the fiscal second quarter actually fell more than expected, reaching just $749 million, but the company’s loss from continuing operations of $11.3 million (19 cents per share) was much […]
Bracing for Borders
Borders reports quarterly earnings after the close of the market today and analysts are expecting a weak report–it’s just a question of how bad it will be. The consensus expectation is a loss of 29 cents a share, and the group guess on sales comes in at $783 million, which would be more than 17 percent below second quarter results from a year ago. As one site notes, however, “Borders has a very mixed earnings history – missing targets twice out of the last four quarters while exceeding them twice as well. The only obviously lesson here is expect volatility, […]
BN Continuing to Develop Digital Products
In yesterday’s conference call following their earnings reports, BN ceo Steve Riggio answered an analyst’s question about the chain’s plans for new technology and the marketplace: “We began selling digital magazines earlier this year on the website. We’re very encouraged by what we’re seeing there and like with all new strategic developments of any type, we will announce it on the day that we launch but we can’t really make any further comments on anything that we will be doing or might be doing, it’s just so highly strategic…. We do not believe that eBooks is the total universe of […]