Bertelsmann reported results for the first six months of the year, with Penguin Random House declining on an organic basis by 1.8 percent — though topline sales still rose by 6.3 percent, due to the weakness of the euro. Sales for the period were €1.916 billion, compared to €1.804 billion a year ago. Earnings were down by both measures, with EBITDA of €257 million, compared to €324 million a year ago. The company noted, “Adjusted for exchange-rate effects, revenue and earnings declined, given the inflationary pressure and supply-chain challenges.” You can see the dual effect on PRH US sales — […]
Earnings Reports
Barnes & Noble Education Loses More Than Ever In First Quarter
Barnes & Noble Education started their fiscal 2023 by doing what unfortunately they do best: Losing more money than expected. In the seasonally soft quarter, sales of $264 million were up from $241 million a year ago, but still well behind pre-pandemic levels of $338 million in fiscal 2019. The net loss of ($52.7 million) was worse than last year’s net loss of ($43.6 million), and their worst loss for this quarter in at least the last six years. Retail sales of 236.5 million rose $26 million, mostly on merchandise and café and convenience food product sales, rather than textbooks. […]
Quarto to Sell Smart Lab, Close Distribution Service
In reporting results for the first six months of 2022, Quarto followed the classic corporate move of burying the most interesting developments at the very bottom of their announcement. They will sell the toy imprint Smart Lab (acquired as part of Becker & Mayer), “in order to focus on our core publishing business.” The will also close their distribution service, “which will start to impact our sales from July 2022.” They have “received a non-binding offer” for Smart Lab and “a sale is expected to be completed by September 2022.” The business is carried at an asset value of $2.36 […]
Indigo Reports Highest First Quarter in Three Years
Yesterday Indigo announced their first quarter 2023 earnings for the period ended July 2 with sales of CA $204.6 million, up 19 percent from $172.1 million last year, a higher level than any first quarter in the past three years. The growth was driven by “the success of Indigo’s omnichannel business; a strong recovery in the retail channel, where traffic levels continued to normalize, and an ecommerce business that sustained incremental growth of 80% to fiscal 2020 levels.” Net loss was $25.4 million, compared to $21.9 million last year, due to inflation and increased freight costs and “increased strategic investment […]
Harper Has Modest Finish to Year, Looks Forward to Rings of Power
News Corp. reported fourth quarter and full fiscal year earnings on Monday afternoon, with HarperCollins recording sales for $513 million for the quarter ending June 30, $20 million higher than a year ago — though down a little on an underlying basis. Sales are $20 million higher due to an additional week in the quarter, plus the acquisition of HMH added $14 million in the quarter. As we have noted previously, Harper is penalized by the strong dollar (whereas European-based publishers benefit), so there was a $16 million “impact” from currency fluctuations as well. Digital sales rose 9 percent for […]
S&S Sales Rise 34% in Q2
Paramount reported second quarter earnings for the period ended June 30, with Simon & Schuster sales totaling $293 million, up 34 percent from $219 million last year. Operating income was $80 million, compared to $52 million in 2021, a 54 percent increase. According to a memo to staff from ceo Jonathan Karp, each of the company’s four divisions—adult, children’s, audio, and international—grew in the double digits. Sales of backlist titles popular on social media, predominantly “queen of TikTok” Colleen Hoover, drove results. “It Ends with Us, which we first published in 2016, was the bestselling novel in the trade paperback […]