Lagardere Publishing reported “only a limited fall in net sales” in the first half of the year, down just 4 million euros compared to a year ago at 542 million euros, mostly due to comparisons against “exceptional” Stephenie Meyer sales last year. As for income, they only report recurring EBIT twice a year, which was 101 million euros, compared to 112 million euros a year ago. The company did warn that investors should expect “a sharper drop” in earnings in the second half of the year, both because of lower Meyer sales and a “less favorable than expected outlook” for […]
Earnings Reports
Bloomsbury Does Better with Publishing than Investments
Sales at Bloomsbury rose 4.5 percent in the first half of the year, to 36.8 million pounds, though pre-tax profit fell by a little more than half, at 949,000 pounds. Profits on the publishing side fell by 23 percent, mostly due to the inclusion of the new Bloomsbury Professional unit (based on their acquisition of law and tax publisher Tottel), “which is typically loss making in the first half of the year.” Investment income on the mountain of residual Harry Potter cash declined much more sharply, down from 842,000 pounds to 180,000 pounds, reaffirming that the company is much better […]
Legal Costs Add to Barnes & Noble’s Losses, As Bookstore Comps Are Nearly Flat
Barnes & Noble reported first quarter sales of $1.397 billion, with a net loss of $62.5 million or $1.12 per share–at the high end of the company’s forecast losses, but more than analysts had penciled in as we reported yesterday. Among the expenses were $9.5 million (or 11 cents a share) “primarily” due to the legal battle in Delaware with Yucaipa. The company declined to discuss the proxy battle in this morning’s conference call with investors following the earnings release. Because of those legal costs and the proxy fight underway, the company lowered its full-year earnings forecast by 25 cents […]
Books-A-Million Comps Decline 3.4 Percent As Earnings Improve
The bookseller reported second quarter sales of $120 million, down 2 percent overall and down 3.4 percent on a same-store basis compared to a year ago. Net income of $1.9 million was up $500,000 compared to last year. BAMM ceo Clyde Anderson says in the release, “our team did a good job to deliver solid results in a tough environment” (which is what they usually say). They claim in the release that it was a difficult comparison to a year ago–“the success last year of the Twilight series and titles from Glenn Beck and Mark Levin proved difficult to match […]
Indigo Sales and Losses Both Rise, As Kobo Costs Weigh
First quarter results of Canada’s biggest bookseller–or “largest book, gift and specialty toy retailer” as they now describe themselves–Indigo carry an echo of what Barnes & Noble faces right. Same-store sales at their superstores rose by 1.5 percent, while smaller-store comps declined just 0.7 percent and overall sales of $204.3 million (CA) were up $10.7 million or 5.5 percent from a year ago. But their online sales remain flat in the face of Amazon’s growing strength in Canada and the net loss more than doubled, from $2.3 million to $5.3 million. CEO Heather Reisman says “the increased loss is not […]
Sales Rise at Harper As Profits Lag
HarperCollins has joined Simon & Schuster and Penguin in reporting increased sales for their most recent quarter, ending June 30, at $302 million, up over 8 percent from $278 million a year ago. Profits are still lagging, however, with an operating loss of $1 million–matching the loss from this time a year ago (though they were up $3 million prior to depreciation and amortization). For the full fiscal year, Harper recorded sales of $1.269 billion, recovering 11 percent after a poor fiscal 2009, with operating income of $88 million–hardly a stellar performance, but much improved from just $17 million in […]