Barnes & Noble reported second quarter results through the end of October this morning, with lower sales and bigger losses than analysts were expecting, even with promising execution of their growth strategies. While showing sales success in their digital and non-book business lines, the expenses of the company’s transition continue to weigh on their results. For the second time this year they increased their full-year loss projections, now saying that they will range from 75 cents to $1.15 a share, or 50 cents a share more than their last revised forecast in August. That news sent shares down sharply in […]
Earnings Reports
Comps Down 5.8 Percent at Books-a-Million
Books-A-Million reported sales for the third quarter of $104.8 million, down 5.5 percent overall, with same-store sales down 5.8 percent. Their net loss rose to $1.7 million, $100,000 larger than this time a year ago. Like other book retailers, they are reporting weakness in hardcovers (whether due to the economy, ebooks, or both) and strength in bargain books. CEO Clyde Anderson said in the release, “Comparable store sales for the third quarter were disappointing as we faced a tough comparison to last year’s bestseller lineup and a cost conscious consumer buying fewer hardcover books. We did see continued positive trends […]
Publishing Flat At Courier As They Take Another Writedown on Creative Homeowner Line; Hastings Keeps Selling Fewer New Books
Courier reported that both fourth quarter and full-year sales rose 3 percent, at $68.4 million and $257.1 million respectively, but weakness in the home improvement market led to yet another writedown at their Creative Homeowner publishing unit. They took a $4.7 million non-cash impairment charge due to “the systemic problems it currently faces in the home improvement market,” bringing fourth quarter net income down to $1.1 million. The publishing division had sales of $11.9 million in the fourth quarter, even with a year ago, as a 6 percent increase at Dover was negated by a 23 percent decline at Creative […]
Ad Recovery Continues to Help Bertelsmann Results
Bertelsmann has reported continuing strength in their business, with sales for the third quarter of 3.649 billion euros and operating EBIT of 265 million euros, yielding after-tax profit of 111 million euros. (In the European tradition, they simply report results for the first 9 months of the year; we subtract out and isolate the most recent quarter, since the other results have already been reported.) The company says results were “fueled by a recovery in the overall economy including an upturn in the advertising industry; long-view cost measures; and a brisk business performance both in conventional and digital media.” They […]
Kobo Helps Indigo Grow Sales But Lose Money; Will Seek More Digital Investment
At Canada’s retailing giant Indigo, sales rose 3.7 percent to $214.8 million (CA) in their second quarter, even as superstore comps fell 0.7 percent and smaller-store comps dropped 4.8 percent. The company swung to a net loss of $1.7 million, compared to a profit of $2.2 million a year ago, disappointing analysts, who were looking for the company to break even on somewhat higher sales. As with Barnes & Noble, the digital transition is adding costs, even as the company likes their prospects. CEO Heather Reisman says in the release, “we are pleased with our top line revenue growth, particularly […]
Sales Fall At Hachette In Third Quarter On Tough Meyer Comps
Lagardere reported third quarter sales in brief, with the publishing division’s “performance dented by a drop in sales of the Stephenie Meyer saga, and by a delay of a few weeks in delivering new secondary school textbooks in France.” They note that results are also lower “due to the non-recurrence of the sale of the international rights to the Twilight saga.” With sales of 634 million euros this quarter, by our count that’s down approximately 50 million euros or over 7 percent from 684.6 million euros a year ago. (They don’t formally break out third quarter sales.) Besides the difficult […]