Harlequin’s parent company Torstar reported third quarter results Wednesday. The book publishing unit had sales of $107.8 million (CA), down by $7.9 million (including $1.9 million in foreign exchange impact.) EBITDA was down $5 million in the quarter at $19.8 million, which Torstar attributed to “revenue declines in most markets and increased costs in the North American digital business.” Harlequin also incurred a $500,000 restructuring charge so far in 2012 and has laid off 8 people. As in the past, the sales drop was attributed to declines in print revenues that couldn’t be offset by digital gains, though “the shift […]
Earnings Reports
Penguin Sales Are Down Slightly for The Year
Separate from news of the planned joint venture with Bertelsmann, Pearson issued a brief update on their third quarter results on Monday morning. Companywide sales rose 5 percent in the first nine months of the year (they were up 7 percent at the halfway mark), and operating profit was down 5 percent, “reflecting the sale of FTSE in 2011, acquisition integration costs and continued weakness in UK professional training.” At Penguin, sales are down 1 percent on a currency-neutral basis, and 2 percent on an underlying basis (taking out both currency changes and portfolio changes). That’s a modest improvement from the […]
Amazon Reports Loss, With Soft Sales and Profit Projections
Amazon reported third quarter sales of $13.81 billion, up 27 percent from a year ago, but below analysts expectations. As forecast, they had a loss for the quarter, registering an operation loss of $28 million and a net loss of $274 million. $169 million of that loss was due to impairment charges against the unsuccessful LivingSocial investment. Guidance for the coming holiday quarter predicts a wide-ranging performance of anywhere between a loss of $490 million and profit of $310 million, and sales are forecast to grow between 16 percent and 31 percent. While those figures were lower than analysts had […]
Profit Declines at Bloomsbury, As Digital Comprises 15% of Adult Division Sales
Bloomsbury reported results for the six months ending August 31, with continuing pre-tax profits falling 40 percent to £0.9 million, even as sales rose 2 percent to £43.5 million. With recent acquisitions the academic and professional division now comprises 28 percent of company sales, though “academic sales peak at the beginning of the academic year, in September and October.” Sales at the adult division were flat (and down 5 percent before acquisitions), while children’s and educational sales fell 23 percent and operating profit in that segment disappeared, blamed on the comparison to last year’s Harry Potter sales tying in to […]
Perseus Celebrates Successful Year
Perseus Books Group ceo David Steinberger wrote to the company’s 675 employees today to report on their most recent fiscal year (which ended June 30). He writes: “It was an extraordinary year, not just for the seemingly countless award winners and bestsellers we published and distributed and not just for beating our budget goals and delivering strong financial results, but also for the investments we continue to make in our future and the progress we are making in transforming The Perseus Books Group into a new kind of publishing and services company well positioned to thrive in the emerging digital […]
Corporate: Swann Steps Down as CEO of WHSmith; Final Suitors for McGraw-Hill Education;HarperCollins Moves to Streamline Global Publishing Infrastructure; and More
Kate Swann will step down as ceo of WHSmith on June 30 after more than nine years, the company announced Thursday. She will be replaced by current managing director of Smith’s high street business Steve Clarke. “It is an opportune time to make a change of leadership, and I am sure that the company will continue to thrive under Steve,” Swann told the FT. She didn’t elaborate further on future plans but said she “certainly doesn’t intend to retire.” The news was announced in tandem with the release of WHSmith’s preliminary full-year results, in which pre-tax profits rose 9.7 percent […]