UK book retailer WH Smith announced preliminary results for the year ended August 31, 2018. Overall, revenue increased 2 percent, at £1.262 million this year, with group trading profit up 3 percent, to £163 million, both driven by their travel division. Revenues from the High Street bookstores declined 3 percent, on both a like-for-like and overall basis, down to £590 million from £610 million. Book sales, however, declined further, falling 6 percent like-for-like. Stationery, meanwhile, continues to grow and now accounts for “about half” of High Street sales. (The company further noted it had successfully capitalized on the slime trend, […]
Earnings Reports
So Amazon Will Respond to Public Pressure, Raising US Wages to $15 An Hour
After Amazon initially met accusations that they pay workers too little from Senator Bernie Sanders and others with pushback, the company announced a more productive course: “We listened to our critics, thought hard about what we wanted to do, and decided we want to lead,” ceo Jeff Bezos said in their press release. “We’re excited about this change and encourage our competitors and other large employers to join us.” That change is a promise to pay all US workers a minimum of $15 an hour, starting November 1 — including part-time, temporary and seasonal workers, and including divisions such as […]
Scholastic Q1 Gains On Strong Trade Sales
Scholastic reported results for its fiscal 2019 first quarter ending August 31, 2018 — their lightest quarter since school is not in session — showing gains in both book publishing and distribution and education. Revenues totaled $218.4 million, up 15 percent compared to $189.2 million in the first quarter of 2018. The net loss improved slightly—$61.3 million, compared to $63.7 million in the prior year period. Adjusted EBITDA for the first fiscal quarter of 2019 was a loss of $64.5 million, compared to a loss of $78.1 million in the first quarter of 2018. Scholastic’s shares, up 6.9% so far […]
Quarto Has Better Sales, Still with Big Loss; Bertelsmann to Buy OnCourse Learning
Quarto reported half-year results, with sales showing some improvement, as revenues rose $6 million to $56.2 million. Some of that gain reflects a shift in the “seasonal split of co-edition revenues, with a higher percentage than normal of expected full-year revenues achieved in the first half.” Their operating loss of ($7 million) was slightly improved from last year’s ($7.6 million), though the after tax loss of ($6.7 million) was higher than last year’s ($5.2 million), and is a poor result by any objective measure. The company’s lightly-traded stock is headed towards a new all-time low following the news. Though not […]
Wiley Reports Modest Q1 Decline in Overall Publishing
Wiley reported results for the first fiscal quarter ended July 31, 2018, with GAAP revenue of $411 million, a 1 percent decline versus the prior year, and operating income of $36 million, a $24 million increase from a year ago, when the company had taken a restructuring charge. Overall publishing sales were slightly lower, continuing the trend from last year. STM and professional publishing sales of $66 million were up 3 percent from $63.6 a year ago. Those gains were offset by a decline in educational publishing sales, down 16% to $38.2 million. “First quarter performance was consistent with our […]
Barnes & Noble Celebrates Doing Less Worse Month by Month
This is what it has come to. Barnes & Noble reported fiscal first quarter sales through July 28, and once again fell short of analysts’ expectations. The stock is down about 8 percent in the first hour of trading. Sales of $795 million were down 6.9 percent from a year ago (expectations were $833 million) and the net loss was $17 million, or 23 cents per share, compared to a loss of $10.8 million a year ago. EBITDA was $7.7 million, as compared to $11.2 million a year ago — even with $22 million in expense reductions. (Nook actually produced $2.3 million of […]