In other corporate earnings reports, Courier finished a tough year down 10 percent in sales in the fourth quarter. Their publishing unit–comprising Dover, the recession-struck Creative Homeowner, and Research & Education Association–dropped another 28 percent in sales for the quarter, at $11.9 million, though much of gap is due to Creative Homeowner discontinuing its distribution operation earlier in the year. The group had operating income of $928,000 for the period, down from $1.3 million a year ago. For the full year, the publishing group’s sales were $46.8 million, down 24 percent from $61.9. The company says Dover and REA were […]
Earnings Reports
Harper Back in Black As Sales Slide Diminishes
Sales continued to fall at HarperCollins for the fifth consecutive quarter though the declines have mitigated considerably, this time sliding $5 million to $310 million for their fiscal first quarter. More importantly, operating income improved considerably, breaking a string of two straight losses, at $20 million–compared to income of just $3 million this time a year ago. The company cites “higher sales at the children’s and general books divisions, as well as reduced operating expenses from restructuring efforts in the prior year” as the major contributing factors. (Harper’s results loosely mirrored parent company News Corp., where overall sales fell more […]
Another Good Quarter for Harlequin
Harlequin continues to outshine parent company Torstar’s other assets as the book publisher turned in another positive quarter even as overall results at Torstar declined. Harlequin reported sales of $122.5 million (Ca), up 3.7 percent from a year ago, though most of the growth was due to a stronger Canadian dollar. The company says “growth in North America direct-to-consumer and overseas revenues more than offset declines in North America retail.” Operating profits rose 22 percent to $22.9 million, with almost half the gain coming from foreign exchange. Torstar says “at Harlequin, we anticipate stable results in the fourth quarter including […]
Indigo Comp Sales Slide Modestly
Second quarter sales at Canada’s Indigo rose by $1.7 million to $207 million (Canadian), driven by the opening of four new stores, as same-store superstore sales fell by 0.9 percent. Online sales continued to decline, down over 5 percent at $20 million, and net earnings fell by $1 million, to $2.2 million. CEO Heather Reisman said that their “operating investment” in the Shortcovers initiative has been a drag on earnings–and it’s not clear from their reported results that it is generating any meaningful revenue. Reisman added, “We are satisfied with our results through what has proven to be a very […]
Market News: K-12 Down Sharply at McGraw-Hill; Market Kicks BN
McGraw-Hill reported third quarter sales, with their education division dropping 11.6 percent to $1 billion compared, as operating profit fell 16 percent to $298 million. The decline came entirely from the K-12 line, which fell almost 20 percent, “in a 2009 state new adoption market that deteriorated all year as budgetary pressures led a growing number of school districts to postpone purchases.”Release Meanwhile, Barnes & Noble can’t catch a break from Wall Street analysts no matter what they do. On Friday Credit Suisse reduced their target price for the company to $16 per share (about two dollars below its current […]
Amazon's Earnings Spike
Amazon well-exceeded analysts expectations, reporting third quarter earnings about 40 percent higher than predicted. And the company thanked Kindle, in their traditionally non-specific way: “Kindle has become the #1 bestselling item by both unit sales and dollars – not just in our electronics store but across all product categories on Amazon.” Earlier in the day, they also announced a Kindle for PC application to allow reading on computers. Sales rose 28 percent (including the incorporation of Zappos) to $5.45 billion for the quarter, as net income rose 68 percent to $199. North American media sales, which had unexpectedly stalled last […]