Books-A-Million reported first quarter earnings for the period ended April 28, and sales rose–up 10.5 percent (or $10.7 million)–to $113.1 million compared to a year ago, due to the expanded store base that now comprises 255 outlets. (Sales rose by about the same amount in the previous quarter as well.) It was also an easy comparison to what was a terrible first quarter a year ago, when sales had dropped from $117 million in early 2010. The company recorded a net loss of $1.9 million for the quarter, an improvement from the $3.4 million in losses a year ago (but […]
Earnings Reports
Digital Continues to Rise At Bloomsbury, Now 9 Percent of Overall Sales
Bloomsbury reported results for the fiscal year ending February 29, with total sales up 11.5 percent (£10.7 million) to £103.2 million and pre-tax profit up 53 percent to £12.1 million, as compared to £7.9 million a year ago. That number drops to £4.8 million when accounting for the sale of Bloomsbury’s German unit (which they now admit was a money-loser) and the acquisition of Continuum, as well as relocation and restructuring costs. (The company’s reporting returns to a normal 12-month fiscal year, after using a 14-month fiscal year for 2011 to account for various adjustments, which makes some of the […]
The Quarter: Digital Rises at Harper and Hachette
News Corp. reported third quarter sales for the period ending March 31 after the close of the market Wednesday. In a departure from recent reports, the release actually mentions their book publishing unit by unit, once, in this morsel: Profits fell in their newspaper-dominated publishing business unit, but “the decline was partially offset by improved contributions from Dow Jones, HarperCollins and the integrated marketing services business.” In a brief statement of their own, Harper said they had “a terrific quarter across the board” thanks to “lower returns and higher ebook sales in most areas.” Worldwide digital sales for the quarter […]
Harlequin Q1 Sales and Profits Drop as Digital Accounts for 20.5 Percent of Sales; Bertelsmann Reports “Good Start”
Harlequin’s parent company Torstar reported first quarter results Wednesday. The book publishing unit had sales of $106.6 million (CA), down by $9.4 million, excluding the impact of foreign exchange (which added another $700,000 in earnings.) EBITDA was down $1.5 million in the quarter at $21.4 million, which Torstar attributed to “lower revenues as we continue to adjust in the print and digital book publishing markets to the shift to digital reading.” As in the past, the sales drop was attributed to “declines in print revenues [that] more than [offset] digital revenue growth.” Global digital revenues, up $2.9 million compared to […]
Sales Rise S&S, As Profit Reflects Legal Costs
CBS reported first quarter earnings after the close of the market on Tuesday, with Simon & Schuster recording strong results: sales rose 14 percent, up $21 million to $176 million. It’s a quarter with traditionally thin margins, but OIBDA rose as well, up $3 million to $10 million, with operating income of $8 million, as gains in content sales were “partially offset by higher costs related to legal matters”–which presumably means the settlement discussions with the Department of Justice and state attorneys general. Since those settlements have not been finalized, there is no larger charge against earnings declared yet for the […]
Corporate: Scholastic Expect More Earnings Thanks to Hunger Games Sales; Secound Round Bids for Flammarion
Scholastic significantly increased its earnings guidance for fiscal 2012, which ends on May 31, to exceed $3.40 a share, “based on stronger than anticipated sales of The Hunger Games trilogy following the March 23 movie release.” Previously, the company projected annual earnings of between $2.60 to $2.90 per diluted share, while the company’s prior guidance for revenue and free cash flow remains unchanged. The sale process for French publisher Flammarion by its Italian owner RCS Media continues, with a number of reports indicating that five publishers have submitted second-round bids starting at 300 million euros. France’s Actes Sud and Albin […]