Lagardere Publishing reported fourth quarter and full-year sales results on Thursday (and, in the European tradition, will not report earnings and complete 2017 details until March). Acquisitions lifted the group just above previous results, rebounding from a soft third quarter, with fourth quarter sales of €624 million (up €5 million), and full year sales of €2.289 billion (up €25 million). Acquisitions added €7 million in the fourth quarter, and €33 million in the full year, meaning performance was down slightly without those additions. The company blames that on the weak British pound — and in the year to come the weaker US dollar will […]
Earnings Reports
Indigo Revenues Rise In Third Quarter, As Books Comprise Less Than Half of Sales
Canadian retailer Indigo continued to post good results, once again driven by “double-digit growth growth in all areas of the general merchandise business, with exceptional growth in the toy and lifestyle categories.” Sales in their fiscal third quarter ending December 30 rose $33 million, or 8.2 percent, to $433.3 million (CA), a record high quarter, with adjusted EBITDA of 62.5 million, a $6 million increase from the same period last year. Notably, in the holiday quarter they crossed an important threshold and books now comprise less than half of the company’s sales: They accounted for 49.1 percent of sales, down […]
Amazon, Apple and Google Continue Strong Growth
Big tech had another big quarter, with Amazon, Apple and Google all reporting strong results on Thursday afternoon (following strong reports from Microsoft and Facebook). There are very few publishing-related insights to glean, particularly following Amazon’s recategorization of their sales streams. Amazon remains the laggard in profits, but gets the most attention for a big quarterly increase in net income (thanks in part to tax changes); pre-tax income was $1.87 billion, with the growing AWS alone generating $1.35 billion in operating income. Despite Amazon’s improved income, the company is still run more for the benefit of employees than shareholders. Stock-based […]
Open Road Grows On New Business Lines, Reinvests to Grow More
Open Road celebrated a year in which refocusing on consumer marketing and continuing to build their customer base and service offerings has put the company in what they call “the most solid financial position of its history,” forecasting more “strong growth in the coming year.” In conjunction with that press release, ceo Paul Slavin and cfo Daniel Shemesh spoke with Publishers Lunch to share specific details about their performance for the first time. “It’s important we don’t get pegged as a publishing company, looking at unit sales,” Slavin said. “We’re about growing revenues by growing the number of consumers we […]
Waterstones Performs Only A Little Better, and Restates Debt Schedule
UK bookseller Waterstones reported results for the fiscal year ending back on April 29, 2017, which the UK media has reported with their customary excess of enthusiasm. What the numbers show is that sales were flat or somewhat down, at £404 million, compared to £409 million in fiscal 2016 (which was an unusual 53-week year). Actual profit after tax of £16 million was down £1.5 million (or 9 percent). But the headlines declare “Waterstones’ annual profits jump 80%.” That’s referring to profit before tax, which indeed was £18 million, up from £9.9 million a year ago. (Last year they captured […]
Corporate: Pearson Celebrates the Mediocre, UMB and Informa Try Again
Despite Pearson’s recent string of disappointing results, which have wiped out half of the company’s market value over the past two and half years, their official releases maintain an orderly calm, using various comparison stats to make their world seem stable. The newest trading update fits squarely in that genre; they expect that full-year earnings will be at the higher end of their very modest guidance — if only the dollar had not dropped in value against the pound, so actual profit is below that guidance (but it’s not their fault). And while they are “expecting growth” in 2018, given […]