Barnes & Noble Education reported second quarter sales on Tuesday morning, with persistent same-store sales weakness carrying over from the first quarter. The company blamed the “lower textbook and general merchandise sales” on “lower enrollments and a softer retail environment.” As a result, full-year expectations for EBITDA growth have been reduced to “mid-single digits” (from a prediction of a 12 percent increase a quarter ago) and same-store sales are now expected to decline 2 percent to 3 percent (previously put at flat to down 2 percent). After rising with the broader market since early November, BNED shares were down over 16 percent […]
Earnings Reports
Pottermore Reports Another Big Loss, Still Promising Turnaround
A year ago JK Rowling’s representatives were insisting the worst was behind them after reporting a significant annual loss for Pottermore, citing “recording breaking sales in December 2015” — and now the turnaround story is being pitched again. They are “on the path to profitability” for the fiscal year ending March 2017, but as for the just-reported year ending March 2016 (Companies House filings in the UK have a long time lag), they lost money again. Sales did indeed rise significantly, to £15.1 million pounds, but the site still incurred a pre-tax loss of £4.9 million. In the prior year, […]
“Sluggish Sales” Lower Barnes & Noble Revenues 4 Percent
Barnes & Noble more or less met analysts’ low expectations for their fiscal second quarter ending, October 29: Sales fell 4 percent, to $858.5 million, with same store sales down 3.2 percent “on lower store traffic,” even with the help of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. Total Nook sales — including content and devices, was down a mere $35 million for the quarter. Consolidated second quarter EBITDA improved to $0.7 million, but the company still recorded a net loss of $20.4 million, or $0.29 per share (compared to a loss of $27.2 million, or $0.36 per share a year ago). With the Dow Jones industrials […]
Book Sales Improve in Indigo’s Second Quarter
Canadian “book, gift and specialty toy retailer” Indigo reported results for their fiscal second quarter, ending September 26. Sales rose 5.4 percent, or $11.2 million, to $216.9 million (CA) for the quarter, driven by “continued double digit growth in the general merchandise business, and growth in the core book business enhanced by the release of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child,” which balanced the downward sales slide of adult coloring books. Total book sales were up 5.1 percent (3.8 percent in superstores and 4.9 percent in small format stores) on a same-store basis, though they operated one less superstore and two fewer small-format stores than […]
Potter and Education Lift Lagardere Publishing
Lagardere reported third quarter results, with the publishing division reporting “a strong quarter with double-digit growth,” based on a few gifts: They gained from publishing the Harry Potter play script in the UK and export territories, and from “the effects of curricular reform in France,” plus the unit continued to benefit from a strong dollar and the acquisition of the Perseus imprints. Perseus looks to have added €18 million in the quarter (after contributing €22 million in the second quarter), with the acquisition of Neon Play in the UK adding modestly to results as well. But the continuing decline in the British […]
A Mixed Quarter for Harper, As Profits Rebound On Declining Sales
HarperCollins’ parent company News Corp. reported fiscal first quarter results on Monday after the close of the market, with mixed results for the book publishing unit. Sales of $389 million were down $20 million from the first quarter a year ago — blamed on the “the absence of revenues from Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee,” which they now say generated $32 million in sales in fiscal Q1 2016. Note, however, that this time a year ago, adjusted sales declined $7 million even with strong sales for Watchman, so the bar was set low. (Then they blamed the dropoff in […]