Lagardere’s book publishing units finished the year with a good fourth quarter (after another soft year overall): sales of €569 were up 4.2 percent overall from €546 a year ago, and up 6.7 percent on an underlying basis. The UK division, which has been lagging most of the year, finished with an “exceptional performance,” up 12.6 percent, and their big French unit also had notable gains in both general literature and distribution. For the full year, sales of €2.066 billion were up down slightly on an actual basis (from €2.077 billion), but up 1.0 percent on an underlying basis (primarily […]
Earnings Reports
A Good Quarter for Harper
HarperCollins reported a good fiscal second quarter, ending December 31, 2013, with sales rising 4 percent $391 million and EBITDA gaining further, up by a third to $68 million (compared to sales of $377 million and EBITDA of $51 million a year ago). The company cited “the higher contribution to profits from ebooks and ongoing operational efficiencies coupled with higher revenues” for the strong earnings, with sales led by Veronica Roth’s Divergent series, and a good performance from their general books and children’s divisions. eBook sales were 39 percent higher than a year ago, but comprised 17 percent of all revenues, […]
Rowman & Littlefield Says Publishing Unit Has “Best Year” Ever; Sales Rise for Indigo But Earnings Drop Sharply
Rowman & Littlefield announced their 2013 results informally, saying that book and journal sales rose by $4.1 million (or more than 8 percent) to $51 million for the year, helped by their acquisition of Down East Books. Digital products comprised just under 10 percent of publishing sales. They launched an ebookstore within their web site last summer, selling “around 12,000 ebooks” directly. Their distribution companies NBN and NBNInternational had client sales of $79 million in the year. CEO Jed Lyons declared in the announcement: “2013 was our best year since we started the business in 1975.” This time a year […]
Amazon Continues Growing, But Less Than Analysts Guessed; Income Rises At Bertelsmann
Amazon reported fourth quarter sales after the close of the market on Thursday, with sales of $25.6 billion (up 20 percent) and net income of $239 million, or 51 cents a share. (That’s a profit margin of less than 1 percent.) Analysts were expecting slightly higher sales and considerably better earnings, so the stock is down about 9 percent — or roughly $35 a share — in morning trading so far. Before you get carried away, however, note that the stock was up $19 a share yesterday ahead of the earnings. And even at today’s lower levels, shares are still 37 percent […]
Waterstone’s Congratulates Itself As Sales Fell Another 3 Percent
The Bookseller highlights cheerful remarks from Waterstone’s managing director James Daunt that their three-year turnaround plan is “on track” after the company’s results — already dated — through April 2013 were revealed. The silver lining is that sales only fell 3 percent, and their operating losses were also smaller. Daunt adds: “We put together a plan three years ago and we think we have delivered pretty much to the plan. These results are clearly a step forward but we have much more to do.” As you can see, sales at the chain are down 30 percent from their peak 5 years […]
Amazon Grows In Fourth Quarter, and Stock Slides On Lower Than Expected Sales and Earnings
Amazon reported fourth quarter sales after the close of the market on Thursday, with sales of $25.6 billion (up 20 percent) and net income of $239 million, or 51 cents a share. (That’s a profit margin of less than 1 percent.) Analysts were expecting higher sales and earnings, and the stock is down sharply in early after-hours trading but finished down $19 a share — after gaining about the same amount during regular trading, so a wash on the day. North American media sales in the quarter were $3.5 billion, up 21 percent, and international media sales were up only […]