Sales rose at Scholastic in their fiscal 2012 first quarter, ending August 31, up 9.5 percent at $318 million. Their seasonal operating loss was $33.2 million (or 81 cents a share), an improvement from a loss of $46.3 million a year ago. Both results were well ahead of analysts’ estimates, with expectations of a loss of over a dollar a share and sales of $302 million. The company announced a voluntary retirement program, which will cost approximately $10 million to $15 million in one-time charges, as part of a broader initiative to “reduce costs in non-digital areas by approximately $15 […]
Publishers
Digital Lifts Trade Profits At Wiley
John Wiley reported fiscal first quarter results, with sales of $430 million and adjusted operating income of $60 million. On a topline basis, both sales and adjusted earnings per share rose 5 percent, though those gains were almost entirely due to foreign exchange. On a currency-neutral basis, sales were slightly better than flat but adjusted earnings per share declined 3 percent. Sales were slightly better than analysts were expecting, but adjusted earnings per share of 68 cents fell short of projections of 75 a share (it’s a little tricky, however, since after special tax benefits earnings per share came in […]
Hachette Results Fall On Meyer Comps, As eBooks Reach 20 Percent
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 […]
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 […]