Lagardere reported sales for the first half of the year, with Lagardere Publishing recording declines in both sales and profits. Sales of 900 million euros were down 7.7 percent on a reported basis, and 6 percent on a like-for-like basis, compared to 975 million euros a year ago. Similarly, EBIT declined to 71 million euros, down from 101 million euros a year ago. But the company says that “when stripping out the Stephenie Meyer phenomenon, net sales were stable in the US and in the UK” and they “anticipate that the division will resume growth and profitability” in the second […]
Publishers
Profits Up Sharply On Random House On Slight Sales Decline
Bertelsmann reported sales for the first half of the year, and Random House’s results followed the pattern of other big houses in recent months: sales were basically flat (down 4 million euros) but profits rebounded significantly, up over 70 percent. Sales for the period were 787 million euros, with operating EBIT of 69 million euros. The sales slide was blamed on “unfavorable exchange-rate effects.” While sales are still below levels reached in 2007 (832 million euros) and 2006 (859 million euros), this year’s operating EBIT is the best first-half result in years. The company “benefited from a strong U.S. performance […]
Quarto Buys Frances Lincoln For £4.5m, Reports Sales and Profit Increase So Far This Year
Quarto announced Tuesday that it had acquired Frances Lincoln Ltd for £4.5m. Quarto chairman Laurence Orbach said in a statement that Frances Lincoln’s non-fiction and illustrated children’s book list “complements Quarto’s existing UK publishing business, several imprints trading under the Aurum name, and more than doubles the scale of our presence in the UK. The acquisition is in keeping with our strategy to further expand our already broad offering of niche content.” For the fiscal year ending March 31, Frances Lincoln reported an audited profit before tax of £619,000, net assets of £3.8 million and gross assets of £5.9 million. […]
Filing Shows HarperCollins Sales Fell in Fiscal 2011
News Corp’s annual report provided a few more nonspecific clues about HarperCollins’ performance in the 2011 fiscal year, following on last week’s release highlighting the strength of its children’s book division and how ebooks accounted for approximately 12 percent of total sales. A 10-K filing released Monday showed that HarperCollins sales fell from the previous fiscal year (when the division’s earnings increased by approximately $128 million, or 11 percent, on fiscal 2009) due to lower book sales due to fewer new releases and lower licensing fees resulting from a settlement received at HarperCollins in fiscal 2010.” HarperCollins also had 166 […]
Losses Widen For Hastings In Second Quarter
Hastings Entertainment reported results for its second quarter early Monday morning and the losses continue to mount. The company reported a net loss of $4.1 million (or 47 cents a share) compared to a loss of just $100,000 a year ago, with a negative EBITDA of almost $500,000 for the quarter (compared to a positive EBITDA of $4.3 million at this time last year.) Overall book comps decreased 9.4 percent for the quarter, affected by “a weaker slate of titles released during the current quarter and the increasing popularity of e-readers”; new book sales fell 8.1 percent and used book […]
Harper Praises Children’s Results; US eBooks Were 12 Percent for the Year
News Corp. reported fourth quarter earnings after the close of the market on Wednesday, and per the new standard there was no specific mention of either HarperCollins or book publishing. The larger publishing division–which is dominated by the company’s newspapers–had a good performance despite public controversy, with sales up $225 million and segment operating income rising $74 million. Harper said in a brief statement that it “ended the year with a profitable quarter and exceeded its plan for the year.” They say the children’s division enjoyed “its second best ever” year. eBook sales were “approximately 12 percent of sales in […]