The privately-held MBS Textbook Exchange, majority owned by Len Riggio and other Riggio family members, has been sold to Barnes & Noble Education — which also used to be privately owned by the Riggio family, and where the Riggios currently hold about 16 percent of shares — for $174.2 million in cash. For the fiscal year ending August 31, 2016, MBS had sales of $500 million and EBITDA of approximately $54.7 million. BNED management expects the purchase to be accretive to earnings in fiscal 2018 and “deliver operational synergies over time.” A used textbook wholesaler, which also sells new and used […]
Earnings Reports
Pearson Takes £2.55 Billion Charge
Pearson reported full 2016 results on Friday morning in London, announcing an impairment charge to North American goodwill against their declining higher education courseware market of £2,548 million. While the company said that in 2017 “early trading is in line with expectations,” they neglected to mention the big charge when they reduced their expectations in mid-January and warned investors about further restructuring on the way. In addition to the planned sale of their 47 percent share in Penguin Random House, the company said they will “explore a potential partnership for our English language learning business Wall Street English and the […]
Houghton Takes $139 Million Charge In Another Bad Quarter
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt continued their string of disappointing results on Thursday morning, reporting poor fourth quarter earnings. Net sales of $242 million were down $56 million (or 19 percent) from a year ago. The continuing trouble at their legacy basal and supplemental education business helped lead to an operating loss of $251 million, $174 million more in losses than a year ago. The company took a $139 million non-cash impairment charge, “the result of our strategic decision to emphasize our world-leading HMH brand over legacy brands such as Holt McDougal and various supplemental brands.” With the help of tax benefits, […]
Simon & Schuster Finishes with Declining Sales But Rising Profits
Sales at Simon & Schuster fell to $209 million in the fourth quarter, down $24 million compared a year ago. (In 2014, the company had sales of $215 million in the quarter.) CBS said in their release the decline reflected “a difficult comparison with the fourth quarter of 2015, which included the release of a bestselling title by Stephen King. Profits remained strong, though, growing by $2 million to $36 million, as “lower production costs offset the decline in revenues.” CEO Carolyn Reidy confirmed that “the only real shortfall” during the quarter was in their adult division and not having […]
Harper Regains Some Ground In Second Quarter
News Corp. reported results for their fiscal second quarter ending December 31 on Thursday after the close of the market. They cited “meaningful revenues at HarperCollins” as the publisher’s sales rebounded to $466 million (up $20 million from a year ago) and EBITDA of $75 million (up from $57 million a year ago). Those improvements put Harper close to a more typical holiday quarter; in 2015 the holiday quarter was a weak one for them, but two years ago they had a more normal Q2 performance, with sales of $469 million and EBITDA of $77 million. Profits were helped by both sales rebound […]
A Soft Finish for 2016 At Lagardere Publishing
Lagardere reported fourth quarter results after the close of the market in Paris on Thursday, with publishing division sales of 619 million euros down 1.9 percent (or €12 million), “as expected,” since they published a new Asterix in France in the final quarter of 2015. Acquisitions, including Perseus, added €22 million in the quarter, while they calculated a negative €26 million foreign exchange effect. HBG USA sales were down 12.4 percent in the final quarter, “held back by a less intensive release schedule than in fourth-quarter 2015, despite further growth in audiobooks and distribution.” Full-year publishing sales were €2.264 billion […]