Like their Harry Potter partners in the UK Bloomsbury, Scholastic reported softer third quarter sales of $398.8 million, down from $423.6 million a year ago mostly because of lower Potter-related sales. But the company reduced their loss from continuing operations to $6.3 million, much improved from a $41.2 million loss a year ago. (The company usually incurs some loss during the third quarter.) They raised their full-year earnings guidance to the top end of the previously-provided range CEO Dick Robinson says in the release, “Successful execution and increased federal stimulus funding drove more than 30% growth in sales of educational […]
Earnings Reports
Borders Finishes With A More Profitable Quarter, Even As Sales Fall Over 13%
With new financing in place, Borders also reported fourth quarter and full-year earnings. The company made $59.9 million (91 cents a share) from continuing operations in the final quarter, much improved from $28.9 million (48 cents a share) a year ago, though adjusted EBITDA fell from $132.6 million to $91.3 million. Their debt net of cash at the end of the quarter was $245 million, a $37.6 million reduction from a year ago. Comp-store sales were about as horrible as their holiday report indicated, down 14 percent in the Borders superstores, also declining 14.4 percent for the full year. Fourth […]
Results Drop at Bloomsbury, As US Unit Grows
With no Harry Potter paperback, full-year sales at Bloomsbury fell 12.7 million pounds at 87 million pounds for the year, as adjusted pre-tax profit dropped 35 percent to 7.71 million pounds. The company finished the year with total cash of 35 million pounds. The company says that profits were “ahead of consensus market forecasts achieved under difficult trading conditions.” US sales rose 1.46 million pounds to 18.78 million, with profit of 450,000 pounds before central cost recharges, but sales fell at Berlin Verlag, down over 2 million pounds at 9.55 million, which had its first operating loss since 2004. Their […]
Random House Stays Flat for the Year
In what parent company Bertelsmann cited as a “difficult economic environment,” Random House reported 2009 fiscal year sales of â¬1.723 billion, up a mere 2 million euros from last year, with flat EBIT of â¬137 million. The company made up ground in the second half of the year to stay even, helped by sales of 8 million copies of Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol in the US and the UK and 7 million copies of Stieg Larsson’s Millennium trilogy in the US and Germany. The company says that digital is their fastest-growing segment, with e-book sales tripling during the year, […]
Quarto's "Demanding Year" Produces Decent Results
Full-year sales at The Quarto Group fell 5 percent to £106.6 million. Adjusted operating profit dropped 10 percent to £10.2m, though reported pretax profit doubled from last year to £3.6m. The book publishing division had sales for the year of £70.1m, more or less flat compared to last year, and operating profit ahead by 7% at £6.7m. Their co-edition division took a bigger hit, as revenues fell 15% to £36.5m, and operating profit dropped 22% to £5m, with “much of the deterioration” blamed on Quarto’s publishing services unit in Hong Kong. Chairman Laurence Orbach, citing “decent results” borne out of […]
Q4, Full-Year Earnings Up at Hastings, but Book Comps Dip
Hastings Entertainment reported an increase in fourth-quarter earnings, with a net income of $9.1 million or $0.94 per share, compared to $4.1 million or $.41 per share in the corresponding period one year earlier. Total revenue for the quarter climbed 5.5 percent to $176.1 million, from $166.9 million a year earlier. For the twelve-month period, net earnings also rose to $6.9 million or $0.71 per share from $4.1 million or $0.39 per share in the previous year. revenues decreased 1.4% to $531.3 million from $538.7 million last year. Comparable store revenues for books, however, dropped 0.5% for the year ending […]