Barnes & Noble filed restated historical financial statements with the SEC after concluding that they had “overstated certain accruals for the periods prior to April 27, 2013, as a result of inadequate controls over the accrual reconciliation process at its distribution centers.” The company made a few other historical restatements as well. The primary effect was to increase their reportable earnings from the past three years–so the 2012 net loss got $4 million smaller; the 2011 loss got $5 million smaller; and the 2010 earnings rose $6 million. With those corrections, the company also filed their delayed annual report with […]
Earnings Reports
Penguin Sales Rise 16 Percent, But Unit Loses Money On Settlements and Merger
Pearson reported sales for Penguin for the last time, covering the first six months of 2013, right up to the creation of Penguin Random House. The trade publisher had a strong start, with books from Khaled Hosseini and Sylvia Day helping to power a 16 percent overall (and 6 percent underlying) growth in sales, to £513 pounds, up from £441 a year ago (which had been a weak report for Penguin). Adjusted operating profit rose £6 million, to £28 million for the period — but that was more than wiped out by £46 million in “costs relating to the formation […]
Rinse and Repeat: Amazon Sales Grow 22 Percent, For A Small Net Loss
Amazon reported second quarter sales after the close of the market on Thursday. Results looked a lot like last quarter’s: Sales grew 22 percent to $15.7 billion, as operating income fell to $79 million (down 26 percent), with the company recorded a net loss of $7 million, or two cents a share. Those numbers were in line with the company’s broad range of guidance, but the silly stock analysts had somehow talked themselves into expect actual earnings of 5 cents of a share (and slightly higher sales). Similar to the first quarter, North American media sales of $2.173 billion were […]
Scholastic Finishes Fiscal Year Dominated By Hunger Games Falloff
The storyline behind Scholastic’s fiscal 2013 reports has been the adjustment back to normal as the previous year’s extraordinary THE HUNGER GAMES trilogy sales — which sold upwards of 50 million copies in fiscal 2012 — leveled off. The results were in line with or ahead of their revised guidance, even though the numbers reflect a reset for the company. They took another charge of 21 cents per share in the quarter “related to cost reduction and restructuring programs” that included $6.6 million in pretax severance payments. For the year ahead, they forecast similar results, projecting sales of approximately $1.8 billion, […]
Sales Rise at OUP
Oxford University Press reported their results for the fiscal year ending March 2013, with sales rising 5 percent (or 4.4 percent on a like-for-like basis) and strong profits. Total sales were £759 million (up £36 million), “in spite of the difficult trading conditions.” Pre-tax profit of £116 million was up slightly, while higher taxes made the net profit a few million pounds lower. Chief executive Nigel Portwood notes, “These results compare favorably with those of our competitors, and are all the more impressive given the difficulties we faced.” PDF report
With Trade Division Selloff “Effectively Complete,” Wiley Anticipates Further Restructuring Costs and Layoffs
Fourth quarter adjusted sales at Wiley rose 3 percent to $441 million, as operating income of $58.9 million dropped 9 percent and adjusted net income of $42.6 million (or 71 cents a share) was down 6 percent. For the full year, sales of $1.761 billion were virtually flat compared to a year ago, with operating income of $252.4 million and net income of $175.6 million declining 6 and 7 percent, respectively. (Adjusted results reflect the trade publishing properties sold to Google, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, and other companies, a process which was “effectively complete” by the end of the fourth quarter.) […]