Swedish ebook streaming service and publisher Storytel reported results for the first quarter ended March 31, with streaming sales of SEK517.1 million ($62.1 million), up 20.5 percent from SEK429.3 million a year ago. Print publishing sales were SEK125.2 million, up from SEK114.7 million, gaining 9.1 percent. Pre-tax loss for the quarter was SEK(73.5) million, compared to a loss of SEK(37.5) million in Q1 2020. (Still in growth mode, the company doesn’t consider earnings a key performance indicator.) During the quarter, Storytel acquired a majority stake in Swedish publishing house Lind & Co., and added a new market, Israel, following the […]
Earnings Reports
Sales Rise 19 Percent at HarperCollins
News Corp. reported fiscal third quarter results after the close of the market on Thursday, with HarperCollins recorded sales of $490 million, up 19 percent from $412 million a year ago. That sales total included $8 million from recent acquisitions and $10 million in foreign exchange gains. Earnings rose more, up 45 percent to $80 million, compared to $55 million a year ago. The gains were driven “by the success of numerous backlist titles, including the Bridgerton series” by Julia Quinn following the success of the Netflix adaptation. Sales were also helped by “faster digital growth.” Digital sales were up […]
Sales and Earnings Rise at Simon & Schuster
ViacomCBS reported first quarter 2021 results on Thursday morning, with sales at Simon & Schuster of $185 million — up $15 million, or 8.8 percent, versus the same period a year ago. With the parent company classifying S&S under “discontinued operations” while the pending sale to Penguin Random House awaits regulatory review and approval, ViacomCBS has changed the way they report the publisher’s earnings, showing operating income before other items of $27 million. The publisher says operating income was up 80 percent for the quarter, and compares to $15 million a year ago. Simon & Schuster ceo Jonathan Karp said, […]
HMH Books & Media Sales Rise
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt continues to excel in issuing earnings press releases featuring prose that’s far more encouraging than the data. In their minds they are becoming a “pure-play learning technology company” with “a strong start to the new year” and “impressive growth in important key performance indicators, positioning HMH amongst the largest and fastest growing companies in the edtech market.” In their accounting, they are a debt-laden company that has lost nearly unfathomable amounts of money relative to their size since going public. Compared to what was a bad pandemic quarter a year ago, sales from continuing operations — setting […]
More Financial Updates, from Bertelsmann and Lagardere
Alongside more detailed corporate reporting elsewhere, Bertelsmann issued a brief first quarter trading update on Thursday, with revenues of €4.2 billion, versus €4.1 billion a year ago. Penguin Random House was among the three divisions that “delivered particularly strong performances” and “double-digit organic growth rates. (Note that topline growth at the company was far lower than the estimated “organic” growth, suggesting that foreign exchange weighed on results.) Separately, Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial announced an agreement to acquire Spanish-language children’s and YA imprints Molino and Serres, along with Catalan-language imprint, La Magrana, from the RBA Group close once the relevant […]
WH Smith High Street Sales Down 14 Percent, As Company Warns of a Potential Cash Crunch
WH Smith announced six month results for the period ended February 28, with High Street sales of £270 million, down 14 percent over the prior year, and profit of £33 million, compared to profit of £47 million last year. By the quarter, High Street sales were 88 percent of 2019 sales in Q1, 84 percent in Q2, and 87 percent in Q3 to date. The company called out High Street’s resilience and said the business was “well placed to continue to generate cash from its portfolio of well-located stores and growing internet businesses.” Reduced rents at lease renewal played an […]