Barnes & Noble announced before the opening of the stock market Wednesday that it intends to split off its Nook Media division from the retail side, creating two separate, publicly traded companies. Shares rose over 10 percent in early morning trading on the news, up to roughly $22.5 a share. The seeds for such a spin-off were laid in the initial creation of Nook Media LLC (which includes details on how BN stores would display and sell Nook devices follow a possible separation). BN hopes to take the steps necessary to complete the separation by the end of March 2015, […]
Earnings Reports
Wiley Ends Fiscal Year Exceeding Expectations
Wiley announced a strong fourth quarter and a good end to a fiscal year that included multiple restructuring charges as the company has remade itself into a “global provider of knowledge and knowledge-enabled services.” Fourth quarter sales of $457 million were up $16 million and income was significantly higher on a more normalized period, even with another $26 million in restructuring and amortization charges. Full-year sales of $1.775 billion were up $14 million, and earnings per share rose 12 percent. The stock is up in early trading on the better-than-expected report. CEO Stephen Smith says in the announcement, “We exceeded our annual […]
Books-a-Million Celebrates A Flat First Quarter
Sales eked up $200,000 at Books-A-Million in their fiscal first quarter, ending May 3, reaching $103.8 million for the period. Same-store sales were down 2.5 percent, however, and the net loss of $5.6 million was significantly higher. (A year ago their loss was mitigated by a $2 million tax benefit.) Ceo Terrance Finley was upbeat nonetheless: “Sales in the first half of the quarter were strong driven by the momentum of the fourth quarter book lineup. We saw traffic slow later in the quarter, but we were pleased that we achieved our plan in our core book business, as well […]
With Flat Sales and Bigger Loss, Indigo Sees Improvement on the Horizon
Canada’s dominant bookseller Indigo reported fiscal fourth quarter sales (for the period ending March 29, 2014). Sales nudged up marginally, at $184.3 million CA, but the net loss of $14.4 million was much higher than the loss of $8.2 million a year ago. Those “higher expenses were primarily driven by investments made in relation to the company’s ongoing transformational strategy.” Online sales increased by $2.8 million, or 13.1 percent in the quarter, and same-store sales were up 1.4 percent in their superstores, but fell 3.1 percent in the small-format stores. In a note opening the annual report, ceo Heather Reisman […]
Sales Rise At Bloomsbury, As Profit Softens
Bloomsbury reported results for their fiscal year ending February 28, with sales rising 11 percent of £109.5 million, but profit after tax of £9.5 million was down slightly (from £9.8 million the year before). All three major publishing divisions — adult trade; children’s and educational; and academic & professional — showed gains during the year, which “mitigated a fall in higher-margin rights and services revenues.” Those sales fell 26 percent to £8.5 million, with “fewer [copyright licensing] deals completed and at lower amounts.” Digital sales overall rose by 21 percent to £12.2 million, and now comprise 12.1 percent of revenues […]
Corporate: Sales Fall At Lagardere Publishing; HMH Buys Channel One News
First quarter sales at Lagardere Publishing fell 26 million euros (or 6.2 percent) in the first quarter, to 393 million euros, “due mostly to the comparison” to a strong quarter a year ago, which included sales of the Fifty Shades trilogy in France. Similarly, for the US unit, HBG USA ceo Michael Pietsch said they “had a tough comparison due to Q1 2013 movie tie in bestsellers of Nicholas Sparks’s SAFE HAVEN, Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl’s BEAUTIFUL CREATURES, and Stephenie Meyer’s THE HOST, but new bestsellers made up most of that ground…. Ebook sales slowed from last year’s first […]