Wiley reported fiscal third quarter sales through the period ending January 31, with sales of $436 million, down $29.5 or 6.3 percent from a year ago. Adjusted net income of $39 million was down more, falling $20 million. The company took a $13.7 million restructuring charge in the quarter “related to the restructuring of our books businesses, the outsourcing of US distribution operations, and the implementation of other shared services efficiency initiatives.” In the professional development division, which includes what is left of their trade books, print book sales of $52.3 million were down 5 percent from $56.1 million a year ago, […]
Earnings Reports
Book Sales Fell at Barnes & Noble
As usual, Barnes & Noble’s more detailed SEC quarterly filing followed their Thursday morning earnings report, and it offers some additional details about their business. Perhaps most notably, the company forget to underscore that in their most important holiday quarter, they sold fewer books. Book sales fell $12.3 million (or 1.7 percent), “on lower sales of trade and juvenile titles, partially offset by strong sales of coloring books.” The continuing mess at BN.com — where they took a site that was not performing well and performed an extensive revamp that made it worse — brought site sales down $15.6 million […]
Barnes & Noble Earnings Gain On Lower eBook Losses; Nook Drops UK, Apps and Video
Barnes & Noble reported results for the fiscal third quarter ending January 30 — including the big holiday period when the company makes most of its money for the year. Sales of $1.414 billion were down $26 million (or 1.8 percent), “due to lower online sales and store closures” on the retail side, plus the unstoppable decline of Nook. Retail sales, at BN stores and BN.com, fell 1.2 percent overall — but same store sales were up, barely, 0.2 percent on “the continued strength of adult coloring books, as well as our Toys & Games, music and gift businesses.” That’s in line […]
Pearson Closing the Book On Difficult 2015; Strong PRH Results Could Ebb In 2016
Pearson reported full-year results for a rough 2015 that are line with their previously-reduced guidance, and their January announcement of plans to cut 4,000 jobs and take restructuring charges of £320 million in 2016. For 2015, sales of £4.468 billion fell by 2 percent (£72 million), and adjusted operating profit of £723m was down by the same 2 percent (£9 million). Actual operating profit, however, swung to a loss of -£404 million (compared to profits of £348 in 2014). The two big movements of the year are found in their “statutory profit” of £823 million. On the positive side, sales of the FT, The Economist […]
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Falls Short Again In Fourth Quarter, As Trade Inches Ahead
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt reported fourth quarter and full-year results Thursday morning, and for the second quarter in a row their performance fell short of analysts’ expectations, even after revising their guidance in November. Fourth quarter sales were $298 million, with a net loss of $97 million — $13 million higher than the net loss a year, or -$.75 a share (versus expectations of -$.56 a share). Despite the miss, however, the stock is up over 4 percent in early trading. Trade division sales were $50 million for the fourth quarter, up $2 million, and trade adjusted EBITDA was flat at […]
Corporate: Chegg Drops, KU In China, and the Barnes & Noble Prototype
Chegg‘s fourth quarter sales were down 19 percent to $68 million and below what analysts were expecting — and their forecast for Q1 and all of 2016 also shows sales declining, once again below analysts’ expectations, as the company continues its pivot to focus on student services and outsource textbook rentals to Ingram in exchange for commission revenue. Investors evacuated the stock on the news on Tuesday, sending shares down over 35 percent to their lowest point yet (dropping about $1.90 a share). Shares have rebounded some in Wednesday morning trading, regaining about 50 cents a share. China Daily reports […]