Wiley reported adjusted third quarter sales of $466 million, up 2 percent including foreign exchange, while adjusted operating income of $78 million was flat (with net income rising $3.5 million). The company took charges of $24 million in the quarter related to their ongoing restructuring program, of which half was due to prior restructurings of facilities and the other half due to severance costs. The company’s reduced trade book lines remain part of the “professional development” segment, where adjusted revenue 17 percent to $108.6 million, largely attributed to the recent acquisitions of CrossKnowledge (which contributed $16.2 million in revenue) and Profiles International […]
Earnings Reports
Barnes & Noble Sales Ebb; Earnings Improve Less Than Expected
Barnes & Noble reported fiscal third quarter earnings on Tuesday morning for the period ending January 31, with sales of $1.96 billion down $35 million from a year ago. EBITDA improved by $24 million to $197 million, and consolidated earnings rose to $72 million (93 cents per share), compared to $63 million (86 cents per share) a year ago. That’s better for the company’s basic health, but it’s much lower than analysts had expected, looking for profits of $1.19 to $1.41 a share according to various estimates. More importantly, the apparent “gain” actually just reflects losing less money on Nook as those sales evaporate; EBITDA at […]
Pearson “Completed Our Intense Two Year Restructuring”; Names PRH’s Williams CFO
Pearson announced preliminary annual results Friday morning, with sales of £4.874 billion down 4 percent (but up 2 percent on a constant-exchange-rate basis) and higher operating profit of £720 million — with lower restructuring charges but a higher tax rate, leaving earnings down to 66.7 pence per share, compared to 70.1 pence per share a year ago. Those results were in line with their “trading update” from earlier this year. Chief executive John Fallon declared, “We’ve completed our intense two year restructuring and reinvestment programme and performed well competitively despite some challenging market conditions.” The company forecast improved adjusted earnings per share of […]
Trade Rebounds In Houghton’s Fourth Quarter
Helped by publication of bestselling What If, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt’s modest trade division saw sales rise in the fourth quarter to $48 million, up $2 million from a year ago, as the unit recorded a small net gain for the period ($500,000), compared to a small net loss a year ago. Adjusted EBITDA of $4.8 million also rose slightly, up from $4.5 million a year ago. For the full year, however, sales of $163 million were down $8 million, and the trade unit recorded a net loss of $3 million, down from net income of $6.6 million a year ago. Adjusted EBITDA of $12.7 […]
Simon & Schuster Sales Fall for Fourth Quarter and Full Year
Fourth quarter sales at Simon & Schuster fell by $10 million (or 4.5 percent) to $215 million. The second consecutive quarterly drop left the company $31 million below 2013’s sales, down 4 percent to $778 million for the year. (Though the year-to-year variance is relatively small, it is the lowest annual sales level for S&S since 2006.) Fourth quarter sales were said to be lower because of the comparison to a year ago, when Duck Dynasty tie-ins were strong, though in 2014 S&S ceo Carolyn Reidy said lower third quarter sales were due to the timing of their big releases and was expecting “a huge […]
Lagardere Publishing Sales Fall In Fourth Quarter and Full Year
Lagardere reported fourth quarter sales on Tuesday, with publishing sales of €537 million down 5.5 percent from€569 million a year ago — and declining further, 8.7 percent, on a like-for-like basis. (Sales fell even with a foreign exchange gain of €14 million.) The company blamed “an unfavorable comparison effect” to a strong fourth quarter in 2013, though it’s clear that Lagardere Publishing sales were soft for the entire year. Full-year sales registered €2.004 million, down 3 percent from €2.066 million a year ago — a 3 percent topline decline, and a 4.5 percent like-for-like decline. That is the lowest sales […]