Publishers

The Bonnier Group released full year 2020 earnings last week, with Bonnier Books reporting sales of SEK6.11 billion ($664 million), up from SEK5.77 billion ($611 million) in 2019, driven mainly by the publishing business and the audio and e-book service BookBeat. As we’ve seen in the US, increased ebook sales combined with cost-cutting improved profitability. Operating profit (EBITA) was SEK392 million, up from SEK250 million — or 12 percent, which the company said was due to increased market shares, accelerated sales of digital formats, and consistent cost reductions. Bonnier Books in Germany had their best sales and earnings yet. In […]

In line with a strong holiday for book sales, HarperCollins reported a big fiscal second quarter: Sales reached $540 million, up $102 million over the same quarter last year, and EBITDA rose to $104 million, compared to $63 million a year ago. (The holiday quarter in 2019 was a soft one for the publisher, however; two years ago they had second quarter sales of $496 million and EBITDA of $88 million.) The sales increase included $13 million from recent acquisitions (the Egmont businesses bought earlier in the year) and $5 million in foreign exchange gains. Acquisitions added $3 million to […]

Welbeck Publishing Group reported financial results for the first time since its launch, following operations since the acquisition of Carlton Books and Andre Deutsch on April 1, 2019. For nine months of operations, they recorded sales of £13 million and operating profit of £1.3 million, which they call “solid… despite the vagaries of the pandemic.” The company reports, “The illustrated business continued its historical robustness, and the combined business delivered a well-balanced result for the year.” Executive directors Mark Smith and Marcus Leaver commented: “We have seen a successful integration of Carlton Books into WPG and we’re both pleased with […]

Bloomsbury provided a brief trading update, in advance of full preliminary results coming in June, saying that “revenue is expected to be ahead and profit well ahead of market expectations for the year ending 28 February 2021.” According to the board, the market expectation is sales of £161.8 million and pre-tax profit of £12.1 million. Sales for the previous year were flat at £162.8 million, with pre-tax profit of £13.2 million. Bloomsbury has not provided any formal guidance, so analysts have not had a lot to work with — though sales for the first half of the year were “stronger […]

Pearson issued their traditional January “trading report,” providing sales highlights in advance of a full annual report on March 5. The pandemic year only reinforced the longstanding trend: Global online learning (18 percent sales growth) was weighed down by declines in US higher ed courseware (with sales falling (12) percent). The businesses most heavily hit by pandemic-related closures, global assessment — which means tests — and international, were down (14) percent and (19) percent respectively. All this added up to a sales decline of (10) percent. While profit results await the annual report, the report says both sales and profit […]

Scholastic reported earnings for the second quarter of fiscal 2021 ended November 30, with total sales of $406 million, down 32 percent from $597 million a year ago. The decline in operating income was even steeper, to $49 million, more than halved from $105 million last year. The trade division continued to perform very well, however: Sales were $126 million, up from $104 million, a 21 percent increase lead by new titles from Dave Pilkey and J.K. Rowling. But their big book fair business and, to a lesser extent, their books clubs, continue to be sidelined, with only a third […]