News Corp. reported fiscal fourth quarter earnings on Thursday afternoon, as HarperCollins recorded a comparatively poor fiscal fourth quarter, with sales of $419 million, down $71 million from the previous year. But it was more of a return to normal, since a year ago they were up $83 million for quarter versus the same period 2017 — boosted in part by $28 million of revenue from Amazon Studios’ television license for J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy. (For Q4 2017 sales were $407 million; for Q4 2016, sales had been $433 million.) Sales also look lower because of […]
Earnings Reports
Simon & Schuster Continues to Build Sales and Profits
CBS reported second quarter earnings on Thursday afternoon, with sales at Simon & Schuster up $11 million (or 5.3 percent) to $218 million — a new company high for the second quarter, and their best since 2014. The publisher also extended their long streak of increased profits, recording their eighteenth consecutive quarter of gains: Operating income of $33 million was up $2 million from a year ago. The gains were attributed to “higher print book and digital audio sales,” with top releases including Howard Stern Comes Again by Howard Stern and The Pioneers by David McCullough. CEO Carolyn Reidy said […]
HMH Announces Decent Sales and Increased Billings, But Bigger Loss
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt reported Q2 earnings, with net sales of $389 million, up from $357 million last quarter. “Billings” increased more dramatically, reflecting orders for their new core programs, at $489 million, up from $371 million a year ago, a new record for the company. As a result, the company increased its billings guidance modestly, with a new range of $1.53 billion to $1.61 billion. Sales at the HMH Books & Media trade division rose $3 million in the quarter, to $39.1 million. Most of the gain, $2 million, was licensing income from the animated series Carmen Sandiego on Netflix […]
LSC Closes Plant in Torrance, Says More to Come
Troubled printer LSC Communications announced second quarter results on Thursday morning, with net sales of $869 million, down 7.8 percent from $943 million in the same period last year. As expected, they had a net loss of $24 million, which included after-tax charges of $26 million, “primarily due to the impairment of intangible assets in the magazines, catalogs and logistics segment and other restructuring costs.” With the planned Quad exit door slammed shut, ceo Thomas J. Quinlan III is now proceeding with a two-part plan to improve margins and free cash flow, and lower debt: First, using consultants to poll […]
Quad’s Stock Soars Thanks to Less-Than-Expected Loss
On July 31, printer Quad reported Q2 sales of $1 billion, down from $1.02 in last year’s period, despite being boosted by the company’s acquisition of Periscope. Adjusted EBITDA was down to $75.3 million, from $89.6 million, right in the middle of guidance. For the half year, sales were up slightly, to $2 billion from $1.98 billion; adjusted EBITDA was $145.2 million, down from $200.1 million. (The company doesn’t break out numbers specific to its book publishing, a very small segment of the overall business.) Nevertheless, the stock surged on the news that loss per share was $0.09, down from […]
Pearson Focuses Hopes on 2020 for Return to Growth, While Amazon Disappoints
Pearson reported half-year results for 2019 on July 26, with sales down to £1.83 billion, from £1.87 billion the first half of last year. The sale of their US K-12 company reduced sales by £141 million, with the strengthening dollar adding £69 million. Adjusted operating profit was up to £144 million from £107 million last year. Penguin Random House, in which Pearson has a 25 percent stake, “performed in line with our expectations with revenue growth on an underlying basis due to a rise in print and audio sales, which were partially offset by lower ebook sales.” As for specific […]