Sales at Simon & Schuster declined by $12.7 million in their third quarter, or 5.5 percent, at $217.7 million, but profits rose more, with adjusted OIBDA up $2.8 million (or 10 percent) to $31.2 million, and operating income of $29.5 million up 11 percent. CEO Carolyn Reidy says the increase in earnings is due to a combination of “a lot of the cost savings we worked hard on the last year and a half,” along with a more profitable mix of formats and associated gains from things like renegotiating their children’s book printing contracts. Reidy believes “there’s been a very […]
Publishers
News Corp. Eliminates Book Publishing Results Breakouts
HarperCollins parent company News Corp. reported first quarter results after the close of the market Tuesday–and HarperCollins has disappeared from the radar. Among the company’s smaller-producing units, Harper’s results have been merged with the larger “newspapers and information services” accounting lines from previous reports. In a conference call with investors, company officials said “this reporting change recognizes both the way we group these businesses and a smaller percentage of total earnings that these businesses now represent.” Reinforcing the diminished importance of HarperCollins in the overall corporate picture, their name is not mentioned once in the new quarterly report–which uses the […]
Harlequin Continues Pattern: Sales Slide, As Profits Stay Strong
Harlequin parent company Torstar reported that book publishing had “stable results” in their third quarter. Following their recent pattern, sales fell slightly, down $5 million at $117.5 milion (CA) as operating profit for the segment rose $100,000 to $23 million, the seventh consecutive quarter of earnings growth.Release
Pearson Raises Earnings Guidance, But Beware the Press Coverage
The good news is that Pearson issued a brief third-quarter trading update (with no actual sales or profit figures) in which they raised their profit expectations for the full year. The funny part is the way that reputable news organizations (like the BBC and the Telegraph), suffering from ebook fever, come to the erroneous conclusion that “Pearson said that surging demand for e-books had helped drive a better-than-expected performance.” (They are fooled in part by the stock line that Penguin ebook sales increased threefold, which was also the case at the six-month mark–and this time a year ago ebook sales […]
Bloomsbury Says Business Is “Resilient”; Book Sales Down 3 Percent at WH Smith
In a third-quarter trading statement, Bloomsbury says their “trading in the UK remains resilient.” They continue to expect the release of the new Harry Potter movie in November to boost book sales. The company writes: “Overall, business is performing well for the group. The outcome for the year is still dependent on the level of consumer and business to business demand between now and the end of the financial year. Major database projects are under consideration which forms part of new business in 2010.” Release Also in the UK, yesterday WH Smith reported preliminary results for the fiscal year. Same-store […]
Perseus Perseveres to Improve During the Year
In a slightly belated fiscal year-end letter, Perseus Books Group ceo David Steinberger writes to employees about the accomplishments and progress of their year (which ended June 30). In a period that began with layoffs, a summer furlough and other cutbacks, Perseus met their financial goals steadily enough to progressively lift their wage freeze, restore pay cuts taken by senior management, and as of the end of June resume their 401k matching. Steinberger writes, “What made this year so gratifying was the way we battled on so many fronts simultaneously. We fought to offset the fallout from the global financial […]