It’s another fascinating day of fallout from the sales of Wiley’s trade assets. In Houghton Mifflin Harcourt’s recently issued 2012 annual report, the company characterizes their acquisition of Wiley’s culinary and reference books as a “bargain purchase.” It was such a good deal, in fact, that HMH booked a special $30.8 million gain on the acquisition. They paid $11 million, but determined that “the fair value assigned to the net assets exceeded the consideration paid,” valuing the whole package at $41.8 million. That tells you something about how lean the offers were for Wiley’s properties, regardless of their value, and […]
Earnings Reports
Extra Week in Fiscal Year Boosts Books-A-Million’s Full-Year Sales and Profits
Books-A-Million reported fourth quarter and full year results Wednesday afternoon, which reflect an extra added week that happens once every six years in the company’s reporting cycle. After four straight quarters of sales gains, BAMM saw a small decline (0.8 percent) at $165.6 million compared to a year ago. Same-store sales continued their pattern of quarterly declines, down 6.1 percent, though net income, at $8.1 million for the quarter was up from the $7.6 million reported during the same period last year. For the year, net sales increased 7.5 percent to $503.8 million (from $468.5 million, though based on a […]
Random House Posts Big Profits on Fifty Shades
Random House had sales of €2.142 billion (up 393 million euros, or 22 percent) and record operating EBIT of 325 million euros (a 75 percent increase over 185 million euros a year ago) in 2012, on the extraordinary sales of over 70 million copies of EL James’s Fifty Shades trilogy sold in English, German and Spanish editions. The company was strong around the world, as it “posted year-on-year increases in revenue and operating EBIT across all its territories.” Results for the second half of the fiscal year by itself were €1.195 billion in sales and operating EBIT of €212 million. At parent […]
Hastings Book Comps Continue to Decline
Hastings Entertainment reported fourth quarter and full year results Monday morning. For the quarter, the company reported net income of $1.2 million, compared to a loss of $8.4 million a year ago, with an overall loss of $9.3 million, nearly cut in half compared to the $17.6 million the company lost in 2011. Overall book comps dropped 4.5 percent for the quarter, compared to a 2.4 percent increase at the same time last year, “primarily due to decreased sales in new and used books and magazines, partially offset by strong holiday sales of Nextbook tablets.” (Without digital sales, book comps […]
Houghton Trade Finished with Strong Quarter
Last week we reported updated sales figures for HarperCollins–revealed via SEC proxy documents rather than the standard quarterly disclosure–and now we’ve found belatedly that Houghton Mifflin Harcourt has resumed regular public reporting following their bankruptcy reorganization last year. HMH trade finished 2012 with a strong fourth quarter, with sales of $52 million–up a big $16 million from the previous year–and EBITDA of $13 million. The company was boosted by strong movie tie-ins for The Hobbit and Life of Pi. The fourth quarter results include in part the cookbooks and reference books purchased from Wiley in early November for at least […]
Quarto to Sell Selected Assets After Challenging 2012
Following a tumultuous year that saw the ouster by shareholders of co-founder Laurence Orbach, Quarto reported 2012 results and reasserted their plans for the future, which include the possibility of selling off some of their hodgepodge of assets to help pay down their debt. (Borrowings include approximately $91 million in medium- and long-term loans). Sales fell $5.2 million to $180.9 million for the year. Profit before amortization and special items was $16.6 million, and after-tax profit of $5.5 million was down over 30 percent from $8.1 million a year ago. US trade sales of $59 million fell 12 percent, due […]