News Corp announced Wednesday that, as a result of booming revenues, the company is “returning proceeds to shareholders,” ceo Robert Thomson said during the Goldman Sachs Communacopia Conference. Since 2020 was “the best year since the reincarnation of News Corp in 2013,” with EBITDA up 26 percent, the board of directors has authorized a new $1 billion stock repurchase program. This plan replaces a $500 million stock repurchase program that went into effect in 2013. News Corp’s stock had gone down 10.1 percent over the past three months, and rose 0.6 percent after this announcement. At the Communacopia Conference, Thomson […]
Earnings Reports
Streaming, Print Revenues Up at Storytel, But Moderated Forecast Hits Stock
Swedish ebook streaming service and publisher Storytel reported results for the second quarter ended June 30, with streaming sales of SEK545.5 million ($64.7 million), up from SEK459.1 million a year ago, or 18.8 percent. Print publishing sales were SEK149.96 million, up from SEK126.74 million, or 18.3 percent. Pre-tax loss for the quarter was SEK(132.8) million, compared to a loss of SEK(72.6) million in Q2 2020. (As in the past, the company expects loss while in this growth mode.) During the quarter, Storytel acquired Finnish publisher Aula & Co. They expect the partnership with Spotify, announced in May, to be implemented […]
Sales Rise at Wiley
Wiley reported a strong fiscal first quarter, with sales of $488 million, up 13 percent from $431 million a year ago. Operating income rose more, to $41 million, up 36 percent from $30 million last year — though net income declined, due to a $20.7 million non-cash deferred tax expense following an increase in the UK’s corporate tax rate. Foreign exchange contributed $16.7 million in sales, and $3.7 million in adjusted EBITDA. The Academic & Professional Learning segment, which includes their trade/professional and education book publishing, was up 10 percent. Education publishing sales were $66.4 million, up $2.8 million, and […]
Barnes & Noble Education Sees A Glimmer of Reopening
Barnes & Noble Education reported results for the fiscal first quarter, ending July 31, “historically a period of low sales” and seasonal losses. With “the reopening of a majority of its campus stores,” revenues were a little less disastrous than a year ago, when they fell 35 percent. Sales were $241 million for the quarter, recovering $36 million but still well below normal, with a net loss of $(44.3) million, slightly better than the $(46.7) million loss a year ago. That was a little ahead of expectations and shares jumped over 15 percent in the first hour of trading Thursday […]
WH Smith Says Travel Store Sales Are A Little Less Terrible
On the initial close of their fiscal year, UK retailer WH Smith is “encouraged by the improving trends” at their travel stores, which operated at 55 percent of fiscal 2019’s sales in the second half of the year. At their High Street bookstores, results have been flat or slightly declining during the fiscal year: The first quarter was up to 88 percent of pre-pandemic 2019 sales; Q2 was at 84 percent; and the second half was at 85 percent, but the most recent 8 weeks were are 84 percent. The company says, “We continue to focus on the return on […]
Penguin Random House Helps to Drive Record First Half Results at Bertelsmann
Bertelsmann reported results for the first half of the year on Tuesday morning, recording their highest profits in 19 years, with Penguin Random House as one of the “strongest earnings pillars” in the company. After dipping in the first half of 2020, sales of €1.803 billion were up 10.8 percent so far in 2021, gaining €176 million. Operating EBITDA was €324 million, up 55 percent from €209 million a year ago. The company said, “Revenues at Penguin Random House rose in all territories, most of all in the United States.” Breakdowns show territorial sales in the UK and Germany basically […]