Thursday morning Houghton Mifflin Harcourt reported a “strong” second quarter, with sales of $309 million, rebounding from a terrible result a year ago due to the pandemic — up 43% compared to $216 million in 2020. But that’s still well (12 percent) below the $350 million recorded in 2019 for the same businesses, leaving aside the trade publishing division. The company reported income of $2 million, improved from a loss of ($32) million a year ago and another loss in 2019, so that represents some real improvement. Based on their “robust pipeline” the company excitedly raised their full-year guidance…but only […]
Publishers
Simon & Schuster Sees Higher Sales, Earnings
ViacomCBS reported second quarter results on Thursday morning, with sales at Simon & Schuster rising off of last year’s pandemic decline, when sales fell $18 million, down to $200 million for the period. As a discontinued operation ahead of the DOJ’s review of the sale to Penguin Random House, actual results were not available when this report was first published, pending the filing of their full 10-q with the SEC. We’ll update after the filing. (For now, VIAC reported net earnings net of tax for all discontinued operations — of which S&S is just one component — of $41 million, […]
Most ViacomCBS Employees Won’t Return to Offices Until At Least Mid-October
ViacomCBS ceo Bob Bakish told employees on Wednesday that most staffers will not start returning to the office until October 18 “at the very earliest,” as the company monitors the Delta variant. Bakish wrote that their broader “green phase,” when most of the employees are expected to resume some office presence, would start in late October and still comprise a hybrid work model at that point. Simon & Schuster follows all ViacomCBS policies. Any employees who return prior to the October 18 date will be required to be fully vaccinated, except for “certain union, production and essential on-site personnel.” Bakish […]
Quarto Shows Profit on Sales Rebound, Expresses Concern on Shipping and Printing Costs
Quarto reported sales for the first half of 2021, with revenues rebounding to pre-Covid levels: They had sales of $56.9 million — “against a weak comparative” of $46.9 million last year, and in line with $56.4 million in 2019, and $56.2 million in 2019. They showed an actual profit before tax as well, of $3 million, compared to a loss of ($4) million last year. Notably, the outlook for the second half of the year includes a warning that many publishers are experiencing: “One area of concern is the volatility in freight, with capacity issues and freight costs increasing 3 […]
Pearson Recovers A Bit, Launches Textbook Subscription
Pearson announced six-month results for the period ended June 30, with sales of £1.597 billion, up £105 million or 7 percent from last year’s pandemic low. But those sales are still low compared to the £1.83 billion recorded in the same period in 2019. Global Online Learning was up 25 percent, “driven by strong growth in US Virtual Schools.” North American higher ed courseware sales were £346 million, down £29 million from a year ago (-8%) but up 2 percent on an “underlying” basis, excluding foreign exchange and portfolio changes, as increases in Canada outweighed the decline in US. Global […]
Lagardere Publishing Has “Decade-High” First Half Earnings
Trade publishers have had a strong first half of the year, with Lagardere Publishing the latest to produce evidence: Sales for the first six months registered €1.130 billion, up 16.4 percent from €971 million a year ago, when sales had fallen €70 million in the second quarter. This year’s second quarter sales were €621 million — compared to €514 million in 2020, and €584 million in 2019. Significantly, the group reported “decade-high” recurring EBIT for the six-month period of of €110 million — compared to just €27 million in 2020, and €36 million in the first-half of 2019. (Lagardere Publishing […]