As Italy’s Mondadori waits on today’s board review of their offer to buy the book publishing operations of rival RCS, the company reported results for the first half of 2015. Book division sales of 123 million euros were down 4.3 percent compared to 128.5 million euros a year ago, but EBITDA increased significantly, to 8.5 million euros (up 3.4 million euros), attributed to their “radical restructuring process” as they continued their “actions aimed at reducing fixed costs and cost of personnel.” They took 3.2 million euros in restructuring costs during the period. eBook sales rose 18.6 percent in the first […]
Earnings Reports
Currency Lifts Pearson
Following their big news Thursday on the sale of the FT Group to Nikkei, Pearson reported half-year 2015 results on Friday morning. (Bloomberg gets detailed background on the FT sale process, and says that Nikkei’s final bid — £100 million more than Axel Springer’s offer — topped Pearson’s own asking price of £800 million.) Pearson’s sales of £2.157 billion were up 5 percent versus $2.047 billion a year ago, and up a slimmer 1 percent on a currency neutral basis. The company stands by its earlier guidance for full-year results. Adjusted operating profit from continuing operations was down £1 million to […]
Amazon Stock Soars On Second Quarter Profit
Amazon reported second quarter results after the close of the market Thursday afternoon. Total sales grew 20 percent to $23.18 billion, while operating income was $464 million (compared to a loss of $15 million a year ago) and net profits were $92 million (compared to last year’s net loss of $126 million). Amazon’s stock has spiked as a result, up over 16 percent to around $560 a share Friday morning, an all-time high. A big chunk of that profit looks to be attributable to the fast-growing, high-margin AWS cloud services business rather than their retail operations. AWS operating income this quarter was $391 million, […]
Corporate: Scholastic Ends Year on a Flat Note; Bloomsbury Update
Scholastic reported fourth-quarter and full-year results on Thursday morning. With the recent quarter dominated by their by big EdTech sale to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, sales from continuing operations were marginally below flat at $488 million, with operating income down 12 percent to $33.5 million (attributed primarily to foreign exchange impact in their international division, due to the strong dollar). Among the one-time charges incurred in the quarter was a pretax severance expense of $5.3 million, as part of their ongoing cost reduction and restructuring programs. Full-year sales from continuing operations were $1.64 billion, up 5 percent from $1.56 billion in […]
Apple Disappoints Investors By Outperforming Only A Little
There is business, and then there is Wall Street. Apple reported third quarter sales on Tuesday afternoon, with sales growing 33 percent to $49.6 billion and earnings growing 45 percent to $10.7 billion — exceeding at least some of analysts’ expectations, but only by small amounts, which led to the stock dropping about 6 percent Wednesday morning. iPhone sales were strong at 47.5 million units, while iPad sales continue to erode, at 10.9 million units (compared to 13.3 million in the same quarter a year ago). Lifetime iPad sales are now approximately 284 million units. The reporting line that includes iTunes and the […]
Google Play Growth Continues; Layoffs at Pearson US
Google reported stronger than expected second quarter results after the close of the market on Thursday and shares have spiked as result. The market is focused on improved YouTube ad sales and mobile search business, but we keep a narrower focus on the Google Play store — which is reported in their smallest revenue line, the humble “other revenues.” That segment had sales of $1.704 billion for the quarter, up 17 percent (or almost $250 million) compared to a year ago. The company said the numbers were “driven by substantial growth in Play offset by decline in the hardware sales.” (Chromebooks […]