Barnes & Noble Education reported results for the third quarter ended January 27, with sales up 4 percent to $457 million from $438 million last year, due to “higher course material sales.” The net loss improved to $(9.9) million from $(22.1) million, but the company still cannot make money and that remains an existential problem. Facing a deadline from their lenders, significant debt and an ever-sinking stock, the company took the unusual step of canceling their investor call, “due to the advanced and ongoing discussions with third parties to evaluate a range of options to strengthen its liquidity and financial […]
Earnings Reports
Wiley’s Learning Division Outperforms
Wiley announced earnings for the fiscal third quarter ended January 31, reporting sales of $461 million, down 6 percent from the previous year, due to divesting some businesses, and declines in others that were held for sale. The operating loss improved to $(46.4) million, compared to $(67.1) million last year, still impacted by an $82 million impairment charge for the Wiley Edge business that is being sold and another $15 million in restructuring charges. But the net loss of $(112.3 million) was higher, compared to $(77.5 million), due to a $52 million loss on the sale of a business and […]
Pearson Sales Down for 2023, But Profits Rebound
Pearson released their full results for 2023, reporting sales of £3.67 billion, down 4.3 percent from £3.84 billion in 2022, “reflecting business performance, portfolio changes and currency movements.” Operating profit was £498 million, up from £271 million, due to “increased trading profits” and the cost savings from restructuring, and was “partially offset by a net loss related to acquisitions and disposals.” This sheds light on the company’s trading update issued in January, which noted that sales were up 5 percent—for select divisions, excluding virtual learning and those under strategic review. Higher Education continued to fall, in line with expectations, down […]
Simon & Schuster’s Last Public Result
There is a small addition to Simon & Schuster’s known results before going private late last year, following Paramount Global’s full-year earnings filing on Wednesday. For 30 days of October, Paramount indicates, S&S had sales of $101 million, and operating income of $18 million. That puts their publicly-released results for 10 months at sales of $958 million and operating income of $227 million. For the first three full quarters of the year, sales had been running just $6 million below their record year in 2022. For all of 2022, sales had reached $1.177 billion, up 18.5 percent, and operating income hit […]
Lagardere Has An “Offensive Strategy” To Cut Costs
Further to yesterday’s full-year earnings report, in a call with investors, executives at Lagardere explained that the company plans to cut costs in the publishing division, including halting its ambitious distribution revamp in France and rethinking title count, and hopes to grow through acquisitions, organic growth, and price increases. The company has decided to abandon its Polaris distribution and logistics program, which it began developing in 2021 for distribution in France, because “after two to three years of design and maturing the project we realized that it was probably too big and too expensive for what we needed,” Hachette Livre […]
Lagardere Publishing Grows on Acquisitions, Takes Big Charges, As HBG Sales Fell 6.8 Percent in 2023
Lagardere released financial results for the fourth quarter and full year 2023, with fourth quarter publishing sales of €795 million, up 5.8 percent (or 6.1 percent on a like-for-like basis). For the year, sales of €2.809 billion were up €61 million or 2.2 percent from 2022 (up 1.9 percent like-for-like). Recurring EBIT was just below flat at €301 million (down €1 million), though that does not tell the full story, since overall profit before finance costs and tax fell significantly, at €199 million, down from €291 million a year ago. The year’s sales gains were due primarily to a €50 […]