After six straight quarters of “core” declines, HarperCollins finished their fiscal year with a better fourth quarter, boosted on the topline by an extra week of results. Sales of $433 million were up 11 percent overall (or $43 million), and EBITDA improved to $50 million (compared to $33 million a year ago). But this was a 14-week reporting period, and a 53-week fiscal year; the extra week accounted for $19 million of the gain, with acquisitions (e.g. buying out international Harlequin joint venture partners) comprising another $12 million of the sales increase on an adjusted basis — leaving about $12 million in sales improvement, about 3 […]
Earnings Reports
HMH Reduces Full Year Guidance, Though Trade Has Modest Gain
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt reported second quarter sales on Thursday morning, reducing its guidance for the full year on “an updated expectation for its core domestic education market”: 2016 sales are now expected to range from $1.485 billion to $1.555 million (with net billings of between $1.525 billion and $1.595 billion). The small trade division had a reasonable quarter, with sales rising $1.2 million to $38.7 million, attributed to “frontlist culinary titles such as The Whole 30 , Weber’s New American Barbecue , Meathead and Ted Talks.” That was offset by “a decline in net sales of ebooks attributed to fewer movie tie-ins of bestselling ebook titles coupled […]
As Expected, Pearson Falls
Joining the big wave of earnings reports was Pearson on Friday, with results for the first half of the year. Sales fell £131 million to £1.866 billion, down 7 percent overall (and down 11 percent on a currency neutral basis) — “primarily due to the expected declines in assessment revenues in the US and UK” — and income fell away, with operating profit from continuing operations of £15 million and a loss 1.3 pence per share. The latest of their continuing restructuring initiatives, given the innocuous-sound name of “simplification and change programs,” is said to be on pace, and they […]
Simon & Schuster Sustains Profit Growth, On Lower Sales
Simon & Schuster’s parent company CBS reported second quarter sales after the close of the market on Thursday, with publishing revenues falling 6 percent to $187 million (down from $199 million a year ago). But operating income grew by $1 million, up to $26 million, “as the revenue decline was more than offset by lower production, selling, and inventory costs.” CEO Carolyn Reidy said the sales decline was “purely title related” in terms of the release schedule compared to a year ago. “We’ve got massive stuff coming” later this year, including anticipated books by Amy Schumer and Bruce Springsteen, Reidy […]
A Good Quarter for Amazon, With Media Sales Growing
Amazon reported second quarter results, with North American media sales of $2.928 billion up 12 percent (from $2.62 billion a year ago), as international media sales rose 9 percent $2.283 billion (from $2.094 billion a year ago). That’s a total of $765 million lower than competitor Apple’s just reported second-quarter media and related “services” sales, now trailing Apple by more than $1 billion for the first half of the year in these comparable segments. Overall Amazon had a strong quarter, with sales of $30.4 billion, up $23.2 billion a year ago, and much stronger net income of $857 million (on $1.285 billion […]
Lagardere Publishing Is Just Above Flat, Even with Perseus Sales
Lagardere reported results for the first half of the year on Thursday afternoon, with the book publishing group just above flat, recording sales of €970 million (up €2 million) and flat EBIT at a relatively low €36 million for the period, even with the addition of the Perseus imprints. Acquired on April 1, those lines added sales of €22 million — but negative foreign exchange cost €18 million, primarily due to the decline in the British pound. Earnings for this period were €50 million euros in 2014, and €71 million euros in 2013. It appears that Lagardere Publishing paid a total of €89 million for Perseus, recorded […]