In a trading advisory ahead of their annual earnings report on March 1, Pearson told investors that they expect to show earnings per share growth of “around 10%, ahead of our previous guidance and the current consensus of market expectations (approximately 61 pence per share.) The company says, “Throughout the year, we have benefited from strong growth in US higher education; good profit improvement in US school testing and international education; and the resilience of professional testing and our subscription-based businesses in the FT Group…. In addition, in the fourth quarter we began to see the first signs of trading […]
Earnings Reports
Borders Underperforms Again; Holiday Superstore Comps Down 14.6%
Borders tries to disguise the growing shortfall in their overall holiday numbers by reporting for the eleven-weeks ending January 16 instead of the traditional nine-week week view they have used previously, but the percentages tell the tale. Same-store sales at their superstores fell 14.7 percent compared to last year, on revenue of $649.2 million, down 13.7 percent overall. But comps excluding multimedia (the business they’ve been exiting for years now) were down a mere 10.9 percent. Waldenbook comps for the select stores that will remain open (again, a special qualifier designed to make things sound better) were down 9.4 percent, […]
Waterstone's Holiday Comps Down 9%; MD Johnson Is Replaced
Waterstone’s parent company HMV issued a brief trading update, reporting that in the ten-week holiday sales period ending January 2, same-store sales at the bookstore chain declined 8.9 percent. Managing director Gerry Johnson has been dismissed, and HMV group development director Dominic Myers has taken over management of Waterstone’s “with immediate effect.” (BTW, total e-book downloads for the period were 80,000 units.) HMV head Simon Fox says, “Whilst the recent performance of Waterstone’s has been unsatisfactory, it remains an excellent business and brand, with a great opportunity as the only remaining specialist bookseller on the High Street.” Fox indicates to […]
Books-A-Million Holiday Comps Down 6.2 Percent
Holiday sales at Books-a-Million totaled $122.1 million for the nine-week period, down 4.5 percent overall, and down 6.2 percent on a same-store basis. For 11 months of their fiscal year, total sales are down 1 percent at $473.6 million, with comp sales declining 3.7 percent. CEO Clyde Anderson noted that “as was the case last year, customers shopped late in the season and proved to be value conscious responding well to our marketing efforts, bargain book department and in-store promotions.”Release
Barnes & Noble Holiday Comps Down 5.4%; Earnings Guidance Reduced
The nine-week holiday selling period at Barnes & Noble was another rough one, with same-store sales down 5.4 percent at $1.1 billion (and bear in mind that the comps a year ago were down 7 percent from 2007). Sales at BN.com rose 17 percent however, at $134 million, in large part because of nook revenues recognized in that period. (BN.com had sales of $114 million in the same period a year ago. When the company reported second quarter earnings in late November, BN.com was up 9 percent for the period. So figure that recognized nook revenues are roughly between $10 […]
At Scholastic, Trade Slides As Education Rises
Sales at Scholastic in their second quarter nudged up 1 percent to $660 million, as operating income fell $2.4 million to $105.6 million. Earnings would have been up sharply, except the company took $40 million in mostly non-cash writedowns. There was a $36.3 million charge from their “decision to consolidate supplemental non-fiction and library publishing activities into the children’s book segment” and another $3.8 million charge “related to assets received in connection with the dissolution of a joint venture in the United Kingdom.” Trade book sales fell 4.5 percent, at $49.6 million for the quarter. Their school book clubs showed […]