In the holiday fiscal second quarter, ending December 31, HarperCollins had sales of $381 million and operating income of $65 million–a considerable improvement from sales of $305 million and a mere $23 million in operating income a year ago. Parent News Corp. says they had “higher sales at the general and the children’s book divisions which were partially offset by higher royalty and manufacturing costs.” It’s the first quarterly improvement in sales after five straight declines (so yes, the bar is lower). Operating income had already turned positive in the first quarter of this year, reported in early November. Two […]
Earnings Reports
Bezos Admits to "Millions" of Kindles, As Amazon Grows 42 Percent
In reporting, Jeff Bezos finally mentioned something involving numbers with respect to Kindles, which are now owned by “millions of people.” And ratio of Kindle sales to print sales continues to grow: “when we have both editions, we sell 6 Kindle books for every 10 physical books.” Bezos even indicated specifically, “this is year-to-date and includes only paid books — free Kindle books would make the number even higher.” Amazon reported a huge fourth quarter, with sales of $9.52 billion, 42 percent higher than a year ago. Net income rose even more, up 71 percent at $384 million. North American […]
WH Smith Holiday Comps Down 5 Percent
In a brief trading update, UK retailer WH Smith congratulated itself for having same-store sales at their high street stores decline 5 percent for the eleven-week holiday selling period ending January 23–slightly weaker than the 4 percent comp decline for the past 21 weeks.Company release
Indigo Grows Sales and Profits
In the one positive earnings report from the holiday period for an English-language bookselling chain, Canada’s dominant Indigo said that the same-store superstore sales rose 3.4 percent for the quarter ending December 26, while their smaller format stores were down 1.6 percent. Overall sales rose $10.2 million or 3 percent to $340.2 million (CA). Net after-tax earnings of $34.5 million were 29 percent higher than a year ago. But Indigo still suffers from competition with Amazon online, with online sales declining 2.7 percent to $29.3 million.Release
Turnaround Starts at McGraw-Hill
McGraw-Hill announced fourth quarter earnings per share of 53 cents, a 43 percent increase over last year, and a few cents ahead of analysts’ expectations. Overall sales were $1.5 billion, with net income of $167 million–the first increases in sales and earnings since the third quarter of 2007. Chairman Harold McGraw III cited an “upswing in higher education, professional and international markets” as contributing factors. Education sales of $520 million were up 2.6 percent, with operating profit of $33.5 million, compared to a loss of $12.7 million a year ago. (For the year, education sales were still down 9.5 percent, […]
Publishing Shows Some Improvement at Courier
Courier’s battered publishing division, comprising Dover Publications, Creative Homeowner, and Research & Education Association, grew slightly in their fiscal first quarter, up $100,000 at $11.6 million. Dover sales rose 18 percent, though Creative Homeowner was down 61 percent, “reflecting continued weakness in store traffic at home centers, the company’s largest sales channel” and the discontinuation of their book distribution services a year ago. The unit’s loss was reduced to $500,000 from $1.9 million a year ago. Overall sales for the quarter were $63.1 million, up 6 percent from a year ago, with improved net income of $2.8 million.Release