Publishers

Blaming “difficult markets” – not to mention the absence of any Harry Potter title – Bloomsbury’s sales and profits declined considerably in the first half of 2009. Sales dropped 25% in the UK to £22.2m, and profit fell almost 50% to £1.7m, though Bloomsbury’s specialist publishing business saw sales growth of 34%, overtaking its children’s business in size for the first time. Revenue for the first six months was £35.3m compared to £42.1m in 2008. Profit before investment income and amortisation of intangible assets was £1.2m, compared with £3.5m a year earlier. Bloomsbury’s adult trade business saw sales fall 20% […]

Reporting on the first half of the year ending June 30, Quarto revenue decreased by 5% to £41.8m, adjusted EBITDA increased by 14% to £8.4m, adjusted operating profit was down by 6% to £2.1m, and adjusted* pre-tax profit dropped to £0.3m. Publishing segment operating profit rose by 5% to £2.4m on £29.9m revenue (a 2% drop) while Co-Edition segment operating profit declined to £0.5m on £11.8m revenue, a 12% decrease. For the year, revenue was up 3% at £110.7m, adjusted EBITDA increased by 7% to £23.0m, adjusted operating profit was 1% higher at £11.2m, adjusted pre-tax profit was 1% lower […]

Sales fell 2.5 percent at Simon & Schuster in their fiscal second quarter, down $4.6 million at $181 million for the period, while OIBDA dropped by more than half at $8.1 million, down from $17 million a year ago. Straight operating income was $6.1 million, down from $14.6 million a year ago. The company says the sales decline was “principally reflecting the unfavorable impact of foreign exchange rate changes,” while the earnings hit was “largely driven by higher author royalties and restructuring charges of $2.2 million related to headcount reductions partially offset by lower employee-related expenses resulting from cost-savings initiatives.” […]