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 […]
Earnings Reports
Apple Beats Low Expectations
Apple reported fiscal third quarter results on Tuesday afternoon, posting sales of $42.4 billion and earnings of $7.8 billion. While well below the comparable results from a year ago, investors were expecting a softer quarter; by slightly outperforming analysts’ estimates, Apple’s stock was up by close to 7 percent in after-hours trading. As in the last couple of quarters, with softening hardware sales, the company is focusing more on their still-growing “services” business, which includes iTunes and the app store. At $5.976 billion for the quarter, that line item up was up 19 percent over the same quarter a year ago, […]
Potter Helps Scholastic Again
Scholastic reported sales for their fiscal fourth quarter, ending May 31, of $514 million, up 5 percent (or $26 million) from a year ago, “reflecting higher sales in all of the company’s three segments – children’s book publishing and distribution, education, and international.” Operating income of $58.4 million was up from $33.5 million a year ago, though full-year earnings look to be below the guidance that was lowered a quarter ago, though free cash of $46.3 million was better than projected, “as a result of the timing of new investments.” But regular “one-time” charges continue, however; mostly non-cash charges of $12.7 million related to their headquarters renovation of its headquarters […]
UK Briefs: Hachette UK to Close Littlehampton Warehouse in 2019; Lost My Name Lays Off 10; and More
Hachette UK will close its Littlehampton Book Services warehouse and offices in 2019 as part of a bigger plan to consolidate and modernize their distribution operations. They will build a new distribution center in Didcot, Oxfordshire, about a mile away from the existing Bookpoint distribution facility, starting in late 2016. “It is intended that Hachette Distribution and its client publishers will begin a carefully phased transition to the new site in 2018,” the company said, and the current Bookpoint warehouse will be maintained for “bulk storage.” Hachette UK coo Chris Emerson said in the announcement: “The retail landscape has changed; people buy […]
Barnes & Noble Education Sales Rise At End of Challenging Year
Barnes & Noble Education reported fourth quarter results on Tuesday morning, with a strong finish to the fiscal year, as sales rose 7.6 percent (or $20.8 million) to $294.8 million, with same-store sales up 4.5 percent in the period. They incurred $8.3 million in restructuring costs related to the Yuzu debacle, however (they have transitioned their failed etextbook platform to VitalSource), leaving the company with an operating loss of $4.2 million and a net loss of $2.8 million in the quarter. For the full fiscal year, sales of $1.808 million were up $35 million (or 2 percent), with a whisper […]
More Barnes & Noble Fiscal Facts
Barnes & Noble followed their headline fourth quarter press release with more extensive SEC filings by the end of the day on Thursday providing a number of additional details worth reviewing: Settlement Credits Perhaps contributing to the company’s slightly positive sales forecast for the new fiscal year, BN says that their customers have been allocated up to $95.7 million in total credits as a result of Apple’s settlement of the ebook pricing lawsuit. Though redemptions of the first round of ebook settlement credits, funded by the publishers, were higher than anticipated — running at about 76 percent of the available funds — for […]