In a short trading update, Pearson told investors that 2014 results should be in line with their previous guidance, yielding earnings per share of approximately £720m (of 66 pence a share). Their preliminary forecast for 2015 has earnings rising to between 75 and 80 pence per share. Chief executive John Fallon says in the release, “Despite continuing challenging market conditions, overall we had a good competitive performance in 2014 and expect to report results in line with the guidance we gave at the start of the year. We enter 2015 a simpler, leaner, more cash generative business, well set for long-term […]
Earnings Reports
People, Etc.
At Putnam, Ashley Hewlett has been promoted to senior publicist while Sarah Grimm moves up to associate publicist. Following the sales of Santillana’s trade book business to Penguin Random House, Maria B. Campbell Associates is now the US literary scout for all of the company’s Spanish-language (and Portuguese-language) book divisions: Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial in Spain and Portugal, Companhia das Letras and Objetiva in Brazil. With further hostage developments in Paris following Wednesday’s Charlie Hebdo attacks, Michel Houellebecq has stopped promotion of his novel SUBMISSION (with the exception of a pre-recorded interview that will air on Canal+ Friday night) and has left […]
Whatever Is Happening with Tablet and eReader Sales, Apple’s App Store Had Record New Year’s
There are a variety of indications that sales of dedicated ereading devices as well as tablets (or at least non-Apple tablets) were weak over the holiday period — perhaps because those who want them already have them, and the devices are all solid enough that they do not require continuous replacement cycles. Apple announced in a press release that “the first week of January set a new record for billings from the App Store with customers around the world spending nearly half a billion dollars on apps and in-app purchases, and New Year’s Day 2015 marked the single biggest day […]
Barnes & Noble Happily Flat for Holiday Sales
Barnes & Noble reported a not-terrible nine-week holiday sales period: Total sales at the division comprising the BN stores and BN.com were basically flat at $1.1 billion (up 0.2 percent), though that result was helped by “favorable timing of the fiscal nine-week period, which ended on January 3 this year as compared to December 28 last year,” which made up for some of the sales lost due to store closures. Sales would have been down 1.6 percent absent the schedule gain. Bookstore comp sales declined 0.6 percent because of Nook declines; “core” store sales, leaving aside Nook devices and accessories, rose […]
UK Booksellers Report Good Holiday Sales (And Low Kindle eReader Sales)
Two UK bookstore chains reported encouraging holiday sales. Waterstones says print book sales were up 5 percent in December, and Foyles said same-store book sales were up 11 percent for the holiday. With 290 stores, Waterstones now expects to open a dozen or more new stores during 2015. Both booksellers also reported weak sales for ereading devices — which should hardly be a surprise, as most consumers have moved on tablets and ereading loyalists are most likely to buy directly from their platform of choice rather than stumbling on devices through a third party. Waterstones said Kindle device sales “disappeared to […]
Briefs
Following Macmillan ceo John Sargent’s indication that they will, with some reluctance, “test subscription in the coming weeks,” Oyster announced that their collection now includes over 1,000 titles published by Bloomsbury. Harper UK has disclosed their annual results for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2014. Sales fell to £179 million, down £11 million from the prior year, while profits rebounded from terrible to just low, with pre-tax earnings of £7.2 million (still, much better than £2.8 million the year before). The company said profits were held down by £3.5 million related to their planned relocation to new offices in 2015. The Bookseller […]