In a brief first quarter trading update, Pearson reported sales of 1.08 billion pounds, up seven percent driven, as usual, by the education group. They say Penguin “made a good start to the year, particularly in the US, the UK and at Dorling Kindersley. We expect another good competitive performance, with a compelling publishing schedule in the second half of the year. Growth in demand for eBooks also remains very strong, and Penguin is actively engaged in developing new publishing models for digital devices.”Statement
Publishers
Education Gains Slightly at McGraw-Hill; United Media Licensing Sold
Reporting results for their fiscal first quarter, McGraw-Hill’s education division rose 1.5 percent to $317 million, with a reduced operating loss of $61.8 million. Higher ed, professional and international sales rose over 8 percent to $206 million due to “surging sales of digital products,” but school education sales fell 9 percent to $112 million. Those digital gains included “double-digit revenue increases” from “e-books, online courses and online homework management assessment products for students.”Release Brand management group Iconix has bought United Media Licensings from the E.W. Scripps Company for $175 million. As part of the deal, Iconiz has created a partnership […]
Sales Fall 4 Percent at WH Smith; Publishing Remains Soft for Courier
The UK’s WH Smith reported results for the six months ending February 28, with high street sales of 503 million pounds down 4 percent, both in absolute terms and on a comp-store basis. Books as a category were also down 4 percent compared to a year ago. The company says “the books market was soft during the key Christmas period, but performance varied by sub-category with the poor publishing schedule in non-fiction acting as a key driver behind the market decline.” Nonetheless, they insist that “we continue to implement our strategy to build on our authority as a popular book […]
Slimmer Loss In Scholastic's Quietest Quarter
Like their Harry Potter partners in the UK Bloomsbury, Scholastic reported softer third quarter sales of $398.8 million, down from $423.6 million a year ago mostly because of lower Potter-related sales. But the company reduced their loss from continuing operations to $6.3 million, much improved from a $41.2 million loss a year ago. (The company usually incurs some loss during the third quarter.) They raised their full-year earnings guidance to the top end of the previously-provided range CEO Dick Robinson says in the release, “Successful execution and increased federal stimulus funding drove more than 30% growth in sales of educational […]
Results Drop at Bloomsbury, As US Unit Grows
With no Harry Potter paperback, full-year sales at Bloomsbury fell 12.7 million pounds at 87 million pounds for the year, as adjusted pre-tax profit dropped 35 percent to 7.71 million pounds. The company finished the year with total cash of 35 million pounds. The company says that profits were “ahead of consensus market forecasts achieved under difficult trading conditions.” US sales rose 1.46 million pounds to 18.78 million, with profit of 450,000 pounds before central cost recharges, but sales fell at Berlin Verlag, down over 2 million pounds at 9.55 million, which had its first operating loss since 2004. Their […]
Random House Stays Flat for the Year
In what parent company Bertelsmann cited as a “difficult economic environment,” Random House reported 2009 fiscal year sales of â¬1.723 billion, up a mere 2 million euros from last year, with flat EBIT of â¬137 million. The company made up ground in the second half of the year to stay even, helped by sales of 8 million copies of Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol in the US and the UK and 7 million copies of Stieg Larsson’s Millennium trilogy in the US and Germany. The company says that digital is their fastest-growing segment, with e-book sales tripling during the year, […]