WH Smith issued a brief trading update covering the first 13 weeks of the second half of the financial year” (e.g. their third quarter). At their high street stores, same-store sales fell 5 percent, while comps fell 2 percent at their travel stores.Company site Also in the UK, Borders UK has hired Clearwater Corporate Finance as an adviser. A Borders spokesperson claims the goal is to “seek out funding opportunities”; the Independent says more bluntly their job is “to conduct a potential sale of the 51-store business…although a sales memorandum has not yet been sent out.” The newspaper reported recently […]
Earnings Reports
Sales Drop 12 Percent at Borders
First quarter sales at Borders fell 12.1 percent overall at $641.5 million, with same-store sales down 13.5 percent at the superstores and down 5.5 percent at Waldenbooks. Superstores and Borders.com comprised $536.7 million of sales, with just $76.9 million coming from the 376 Waldens open at the end of the quarter. International sales, primarily from Paperchase, fell 14.9 percent to $27.9 million, suffering from the fall in the pound. The company lost $15.9 million or 27 cents per share on an operating basis–better than last year’s loss, and better than the 50-cent loss analysts expected–but the total loss was $86 […]
Books-A-Million Grows Sales, As Does Indigo
Overall sales actually rose at Books-a-Million in the first quarter, up $2.3 million to $118.2 million, while same-store sales slid 1.1 percent. Net income rose to $2.1 million, though much of the gain came from savings on stocks grants and compensation forfeited when ceo Sandra Cochran left the company. CEO Clyde Anderson says in the release, “Given the difficult economic environment, we’re pleased with our results for the quarter. While comparable sales numbers were down slightly, they represented an improvement over recent quarters, and our continued focus on cost control, gross margin and inventory management delivered improved earnings.” Release At […]
Comp Sales Fall 5.7% at BN, Which Raises Guidance After Smaller-than-Expected Loss
Barnes & Noble is good at beating the expectations of stock analysts and their own investor “guidance,” and they did it again for their first quarter, even as overall sales fell 4 percent to $1.105 billion. Same-store sales fell 5.7 percent for the quarter, a little better than their previous guidance, with overall store sales falling only 3.5 percent to $989 million. BN.com sales fell more, by 7 percent, at $93 million. The net loss from continuing operations of $2.1 million (or 4 cents a share) was better than the predicted loss of 10 cents to 20 cents a share. […]
Book Comps Rise at Hastings, Even As Overall Results Fall
First quarter sales at Hastings fell $6.2 million, or 4.7 percent, to $126 million, while net earnings were nearly halved, at $1.7 million. But same-store sales for books actually rose slightly–by 0.2 percent on an absolute basis, or by 1.7 percent if you account for the extra day of sales in the quarter last year (on February 29). Though the benefits may not have gone to book publishers, since the company says “strong sales of used and value books, as well as strong sales of new hardbacks were offset by lower sales of magazines.”Release
Lagardere Publishing Still Rising
Sales rose 12 percent in the first quarter at Lagardere Publishing, to 463 million euros, as the company sold over 18 million copies of Stephenie Meyer books worldwide. Foreign exchange had “a negative effect” of 9 million euros, with the pound weakening and the dollar strengthening during the period. That left Hachette Book Group in the US with 20 percent of the company’s sales, and Hachette UK at 18 percent. The company acknowledges that the first quarter percentage increase was helped by “a flattering comparative” and says that “while Lagardère Publishing is ahead of budget for the first three months […]