Wiley reported sales of $432 million for their fiscal second quarter of fiscal year 2009, up 2 percent from a year ago, with earnings of .67 cents a share, up 14 percent. CEO William Pesce reports that “we generated solid top-line growth in our global STMS and higher education businesses. Professional/Trade revenue was down, reflecting the combined effect of weak retail sales and the comparison to last year’s strong first half.” Because of that diversity, the company remains “cautiously optimistic that full-year revenue growth will be in the mid-single digits, excluding the unfavorable effect of foreign exchange.” But with almost […]
Earnings Reports
Borders Comps Plunge; Pershing May Lend More
Borders has confirmed the obvious: “management is no longer contemplating a transaction” to sell the entire company.” But it is “in discussions with Pershing Square regarding an alternative financing transaction,” and still has the right to sell the Paperchase chain to Pershing Square for $65 million. Same-store sales for the third quarter suffered more at Borders than at the other big chains, falling 12.8 percent at their superstores, which had $548.4 million sales, with Waldenbooks comps falling less, by 7.7 percent, for sales of $91.5 million in total. Their web site sales were $11.9 million, “which is below management expectations […]
Books-A-Million Comp: Minus 9.9 Percent
Announcing third quarter results, Books-a-Million said that sales of $111 million were down 5.7 percent overall, and down 9.9 percent on a same-store sales basis. Their net loss was $2.2 million, compared to a loss of $555,000 a year ago. CEO Sandra Cochran says: “We faced dramatic macroeconomic headwinds, and as a result we experienced our weakest comparable store sales in many years. The negative trends were broadly felt across most categories although bargain books, gifts and teen provided positive results. Our entire team remains focused on adjusting to this difficult environment by controlling costs, managing inventory and preparing for […]
BN: Even Worse Than Expected
Barnes & Noble reported sales of $1.1 billion for their third quarter, and a net loss of $18.4 million. Same-store BN store sales of $971 million were down a big 7.4 percent (and fell 4.4 percent overall), while sales at the online unit rose 2 percent, to $109 million. The loss includes a special after-tax impairment charge of $7 million “to reduce the asset carrying value of certain store locations.” The results are below the company’s previous guidance and analysts’ diminished expectations–the operating loss of .21 a share compares to analysts’ prediction of .16 share. BN reduced their fourth quarter […]
Barnes & Noble Earnings Preview, and More Financials
Shares in Barnes & Noble touched all-time lows in Tuesday’s trading with the company’s market cap below $800 million after dropping almost 6 percent–and the decline has continued in early trading today. On Thursday the retailer will report quarterly earnings. Their guidance forecast a loss of 10 cents to 15 cents a share, but analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expect a loss of 16 cents per share, on sales of $1.17 billion. BAMM reports on Friday, and Borders releases results on Tuesday, November 25 after the market closes. At current prices, the market value of Barnes & Noble, Borders, Books-a-Million […]
Hastings: "The Most Difficult Retail Environment We Have Ever Seen"
Hastings reported third quarter sales of $114 million, down six percent from a year ago. Leaving aside rental revenues, sales of merchandise were down 5.1 percent on a same-store sales basis. But books outperformed many of their other media categories, as “books comps increased 1 percent for the quarter, due to strong sales of new trade paperback as well as used trade paperback and used hardbacks, partially offset by lower sales of periodicals.” The company swung from a slim profit this time last year to a net loss of $3.7 million for the quarter. (That loss includes a special $400,000 […]