Sales at Scholastic dropped 1.1 percent in their third quarter, at $393.7 million compared to $398.8 million a year ago. They also reported a net loss from continuing operations of $25.1 million, significantly more in the red as compared to the $5.6 million in net losses the previous year. They attribute the drop in earnings to lower sales of higher margin educational technology relative to a year ago, thanks to significant benefit from the federal stimulus program, as well as increased investment in digital initiatives. Trade publishing sales of $43.5 million rose 21 percent compared to a year ago due […]
Publishers
Q4, Full Year Revenues and Book Comps Drop Sharply For Hastings
Hastings Entertainment reported a sharp decrease in fourth-quarter earnings, with a net income of $3.8 million, or $0.43 per share compared to $9.1 million or $0.94 per share, in the corresponding period one year earlier. Sales of $166.9 million for the quarter were down 8.9 percent from $176.1 million a year earlier. Comparable store revenues for books 7 percent for the fourth quarter, mostly owing to increased popularity of e-book readers, and lower sales of magazines, with a decline of 4.2 percent for the year ending January 31. All major trade book formats suffered more than the overall figure reflects, since their decreases were […]
Wiley Rises Even with Borders Charge; Trade eBooks Grow, Still at 4.4%
Sales rose 7 percent at Wiley in their fiscal third quarter, to $448 million, with operating income of $70 million, up 2 percent. The company’s previously-announced bad debt charge from Borders of $9 million was equal to 10 cents a share, and Wiley reiterated that it “does not anticipate any additional charge or bad debt expense with respect to this customer.” CEO William Pesce comments more broadly in the release: “Professional/Trade bounced back from a tough second quarter, led by business and cooking books. Sales of ebooks grew and had a positive effect on gross margin. In December, Wiley stopped […]
Profits Fall 17 Percent at Lagardere Publishing; eBook Keep Rising
In standard French fashion, Lagardere has reported profits for fiscal 2010, having already reported revenues. In the book publishing division, “a fall in profitability was expected after 2009’s spectacular results,” with recurring EBIT of 250 million euros, on sales of 2.165 million euros. Margin is down 51 million euros from a year ago, a 17 percent decline, and their net margin for the year was 11.6 percent, down from 13.2 percent in 2009 “due to a change in product mix (lower contribution from blockbusters in 2010) and investments in digital.” eBook sales continue to grow rapidly. As previously reported they […]
Marked Shift From Print to Digital Lead to Sales and Profit Drop for Harlequin
Harlequin’s parent company Torstar reported that the publishing unit had fourth quarter sales of $120 million (CA), down two percent from last year, with EBITDA falling more sharply to $18.3 million, million, down 17 percent compared to $21.3 million a year ago. They say the overall drop was largely due to a weaker US economy, which caused fewer print books to be sold, as well as a more marked shift from print to digital books. To that end, digital revenues were up $5.5 million in the fourth quarter, “reflecting the strong growth of the e-book market including the positive impact […]
Penguin Gains, As Margin Moves to 10 Percent
Pearson delivered the strong results for 2010 that they have been predicting, as Penguin “achieved record sales and profits in a challenging and rapidly-changing industry environment.” The trade publishing division had sales of 1.053 billion pounds (up 5 percent from a year ago, and 2 percent on a constant-exchange-basis) and profits grew even more, at 106 million pounds up 26 percent from a year ago. And those margins “were struck after making additional provisions for a number of credit exposures in the book retailing sector, including in relation to Borders in the US.” eBook sales were 6 percent of Penguin’s […]