On the heels of its cancelled merger with Cengage, McGraw-Hill today issued a limited “preliminary Q4 and full-year report”– or otherwise put, announced that it is delaying full financial reporting for the quarter until mid-June, and changing their fiscal year. The company already reported a fourth quarter, ending December 31, back in early March — but the new report reflects a shift to a fiscal year ending March 31, which they say will better align with seasonal industry cycles. The preliminary report, which lacks full financials, touts their digital growth and provides minor updates on how COVID-19 has affected the […]
Publishers
Harper Sees Sales Slide, Earnings Gain
Sales at HarperCollins fell modestly in their fiscal third quarter, at $412 million, their fourth straight quarterly decline, $9 million lower than a year ago. The company said the drop was “primarily due to the difficult comparisons to the prior year, which had higher sales of Rachel Hollis’ titles,” along with a $3 million negative effect from foreign exchange. But EBITDA actually gained, at $55 million up $2 milllion, “primarily due to the different mix of titles.” Digital sales rose 3 percent compared to a year ago, “primarily due to growth in downloadable audiobooks,” and comprised 23 percent of consumer […]
Simon & Schuster Gains In First Quarter, Performing Better Than Expected In Crisis
ViacomCBS reported first quarter results on Thursday morning, with publishing division Simon & Schuster recording sales of $170 million, up $6 million from a year ago, “reflecting 16 percent growth in digital sales.” Adjusted OIBDA was flat at $19 million. (A year ago, under the freestanding CBS, they reported the slightly different measure of operating income, which was $17 million.) Across the publisher’s units, ceo Carolyn Reidy notes that adult books were up 8 percent in the quarter and digital audio continued to rise considerably, as children’s publishing “was down a little,” and the international units “took the biggest hit […]
HMH Writes Down Education Division Value; LSC Book Printing Sales Down 21 Percent
HMH reported results for the first quarter ending March 31. At HMH Books and Media, sales were $38.3 million, compared to $40.8 million last year. The decrease was primarily due to licensing revenue from the Carmen Sandiego series on Netflix, which did not repeat in the first quarter, but is expected later in the year. Net loss for Books and Media was $2.8 million, compared to $4.5 million last year. Adjusted EBITDA showed a loss of $680,000, compared to a gain of $4.2 million last year. For HMH overall, sales were $190 million, compared to $195 million a year ago. […]
Lagardere Publishing Documents Good Start Followed By Sharp Falloff
Lagardere Publishing reported results for the first quarter 2020, giving some data to the year’s good beginning and sharp turndown in March. Sales were up 5.6 percent in January and February before the global lockdowns began, followed by a 19 percent decline in March. And the company expects April sales were “down in the region of 45 percent” (which is at least better than the expected 90 percent decline in the Lagardere Travel business). For the first quarter, sales of €457 million were only down €3 million, helped again by the strong US dollar and improving British pound, which added […]
Bertelsmann Reports Moderate First Quarter Sales Decline
In a brief trading update, Penguin Random House parent company Bertelsmann reported “satisfactory” results for the first quarter of 2020, saying sales “declined moderately by 2.7 percent to €4.1 billion.” Ceo Thomas Rabe said: “The 2020 business year, with the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, will be a challenge. We started the year well, but have been feeling an increasing impact on our businesses since March. We took a number of measures early on to protect the health of our employees and safeguard our businesses,” including selling a €750 million Eurobond with an eight-year term, among the measures to […]