While Torstar’s newspaper business suffers heavily from the advertising slump, sales at the company’s Torstar unit have remained strong, boosted further by the weak Canadian dollar. “Harlequin’s revenues, to date, have not been significantly affected by the global, and in particular, the US economic situation,” the company said. First quarter sales of $124.5 million (CA) were up $14.8 million from a year ago, or 13.5 percent, though $11.5 million of the increase was due to foreign exchange. EBITDA of $21.8 million was up almost 18 percent, from $18.5 million a year ago. The unit took a $1.4 million charge related […]
Earnings Reports
Comp Sales Off 4.5% at Waterstone's
Following the reported drops at WH Smith earlier this month, Waterstone’s parent HMV has reported that same-store sales declined by 4.5 percent in the last 16 weeks of their fiscal year, ending, April 25 (and 3.5 percent overall in that period.) For the full year, both comp sales and overall sales fell 3.8 percent at the bookseller. The company did not report actual sales today, but Waterstone’s has sales of 564 million pounds last year, so presumably this year’s sales are approximately 542.6 million pounds. The Bookseller says that layoffs have been discussed at the store level in recent weeks, […]
Amazon Continues Growth, But Media Sales Lag
Overall sales for the first quarter at Amazon.com increased by 18 percent to $4.89 billion, as operating income increased 23 percent to $244 million in the first quarter, and net income rose 24 percent to $177 million. But the growth was driven heavily by electronics, as the media segment–which includes books and digital downloads among other items–continues to lag the company’s overall performance. North American media sales of $1.305 billion were up 8 percent compared to a year (similar to the rise in the previous quarter), while international media sales of $1.418 billion were up just six percent, held back […]
Sales Off at WH Smith; New Betrams Owner Reports
High-street sales fell 6 percent at WH Smith in the first half of their fiscal year, at 522 million pounds, and profits of 47 million pounds declined by the same percentage. Same-store book sales declined less, at 3 percent, and the company says “we saw further good share performance versus the general high street with strong market shares in kids books…and celebrity autobiographies.” They add that “we increased the focus on kids books with major range reviews leading to wider ranges being introduced in areas such as picture books.” Smith release The new owners of UK wholesaler Bertrams also reported […]
Bookstore Burrowings
So one of my wonkier habits is scrolling through the lengthy SEC filings of major public companies in the book industry, exacerbated by recent annual reports from Barnes & Noble, Borders, and Books-a-Million. (The detailed filings often share interesting tidbits we don’t get to in the basic earnings releases and ensuing conference calls.) Among the things we’ve learned in the past couple of weeks: Borders sold just over $2 billion worth of books last, out of total revenue of $3.242 billion, or a little under 62 percent of sales. Books-a-Million, on the other hand, says that 83 percent of their […]
Courier Takes $15.6 Million Charge Against Dover
In reporting second quarter earnings, Courier took a non-cash $15.6 million impairment charge related to performance at their Dover Publications unit, representing 100 percent of Dover’s goodwill. The company cites “the recent reduction in valuation multiples in the publishing industry and the US government’s projection of continued weakness in consumer spending for several quarters to come” in their “assessment of potential impairment in Dover’s business.” Sales at the book publishing division were $12.1 million for the quarter, down 28 percent from a year ago, with an operating loss of $556,000. But CEO James F. Conway III says, “After a long […]