News Corp. reported earnings for their fiscal second quarter, ending December 31, with Harper Collins registering its third consecutive weak quarter. Sales of $442 million were down $52 million from a year ago, falling 11 percent. EBITDA fell further, down 28 percent, to $63 million from $88 million. The company attributed the shortfalls “primarily due to the difficult comparisons to the prior year” — but it was a soft holiday compared to earlier periods, too. In 2017 sales were $469 million and EBITDA was $78 million. Digital sales increased 5 percent compared to the prior year, primarily due to a […]
Publishers
Corporate: Barnes & Noble “A Big Mess”; A Big Charge At Luebbe; Booktopia Adds Funding
Barnes & Noble ceo James Daunt, speaking to inews.co.uk following the release of Waterstones’ results, declares of BN, “We had a pretty awful Christmas over here.” He adds, “But that was because there are parts that I’ve abandoned.” More broadly, he says BN is “as Waterstones was in 2011, which is: not very good bookshops, not looking very nice. It’s a big mess.” While publishers like Lagardere are investing in games, Germany’s Luebbe is taking a big charge after a misadventure there. The company said it will take an impairment loss of between 12 and 14 million euros against its […]
Pearson Preview Indicates 30 Percent Decline In Printed Textbooks, Weak Profits Ahead
Pearson released a 2019 trading update, providing a preview of what’s to come in the complete earnings results coming February 21. It’s not good. In North America, overall revenue was down 3 percent, dragged down by a 12 percent decline in the US Higher Education business. Print sales dropped an astonishing 30 percent, while digital sales showed only “modest growth.” The release notes, “This reflects rapidly changing market dynamics that are reshaping the industry, as illustrated by the fact that in 2019 we sold 3.7 million textbooks to students at US universities, compared to 7.4 million in 2016 and 21 […]
Scholastic Reports Strong Q2 for Trade Books
Scholastic reported second quarter earnings, with sales of $597.2 million, down from $604.7 million in last year’s Q2 (or 1 percent). Trade sales remained strong, though, at $103.6 million, up from $96 million (or 8 percent). Operating income was up, to $105 million, from $98 million one year ago (or 7 percent). Trade saw strong frontlist sales, from books including Raina Telgemeier’s Guts, Alan Gratz’s Allies, Maggie Stiefvater’s Call Down the Hawk, The Dinky Donkey, and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire: The Illustrated Edition, but also included the licensing revenue from Clifford, the animated programming now on Amazon […]
Wiley Earnings Reflect Continued Educational Publishing Decline
Wiley reported Q2 earnings, with total sales for the quarter of $466.2 million, up from $448.6 million — which includes increased sales scope from the zyBooks and Knewton acquisitions. Operating income was $63.4 million, up from $57.5 million. Educational publishing sales were $101.7 million, down from $107.5 million, a decline of 5 percent, despite the boost from the recent acquisitions. Professional learning sales were $76 million, down from from $82.2 million, or 8 percent. It’s unclear exactly how much traditional book publishing declined, however, since the company’s recent decision to combine books with its corporate training business, in a single […]
Q3 Sales and Income Down at McGraw-Hill, Despite Digital Growth
McGraw-Hill reported earnings for the period ending September 30, with sales of $542.6 million, down from $552.1 million. Net income also fell slightly, down $2.2 million to $53.4 million. Meanwhile, the company’s preferred, non-GAAP measure of profit, adjusted EBITDA, was up slightly, to $371.7 million from $368.2 million. Higher ed sales of $189 million were down $12 million, while K-12 sales of $252 million rose by $11 million compared to a year ago. Despite lackluster overall results, the company reported strong sales growth for its “Inclusive Access” program and other digital offerings (entirely offset, nonetheless, by contraction in print sales […]