As part of an investor day presentation on Thursday, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt announced that it “will make changes connected with the company’s ongoing strategic transformation to simplify its business model and accelerate growth.” With a “streamlining of operations company-wide for greater efficiency,” that corporate-speak translates into another big wave of layoffs: Over 8 percent of employees will be fired as part of the exciting new strategy (and that’s with “taking into account new strategy-aligned positions that are expected to be added”). They didn’t provide a number of people to be fired, which is their style. But this is almost as […]
Publishers
College Students “Turn Away from Print Rapidly,” Reducing Pearson’s Sales and Profits
Pearson told investors it expects operating profit for the year to be at the very bottom of the original guidance range of £590 million to £640 million, as part of its 9-month trading update. The reduced expectations are due to weaker than expected sales in the US higher education business, which represents 25 percent of sales. US higher ed revenues dropped 10 percent over the prior year’s period, which Pearson attributed to “a significant industry wide acceleration of print attrition as channel partners and students turn away from print products more rapidly than anticipated.” As a result, Pearson now anticipates […]
Continued Trade Momentum Boosts Sales at Scholastic
Scholastic reported earnings for their fiscal Q1 2020, ending August 31, with sales of $232.6 million, up from to $218.4 million in the first quarter of 2019. “The big story in the quarter was our strong trade frontlist worldwide,” said cfo Ken Cleary on the analyst call. Trade publishing sales were $74.1 million, up from $61.4 million last year. In overall Children’s Book Publishing and Distribution, which includes book clubs and fairs as well as trade, first quarter revenues rose to $109.6 million, from $95.7 million. “Most impressive was our strength in series publishing — Dog Man, Captain Underpants, Harry […]
Wiley Q1 2020 Reflects Continued Softness in Educational Publishing
Wiley reported earnings for the first quarter of fiscal 2020, ending July 30, with sales of $423.5 million. Results were $12.6 million higher than a year ago, but that includes $15 million in revenues from the acquisition of ZyBooks in July. The company took a restructuring charge of $11 million for severance and other costs as part of their “multi-year business optimization program.” (That’s actually below the forecast of a $15 million to $20 million charge in the quarter. On the investor call, cfo and evp John Kritzmacher said the lower charge reflects more work to be done on their […]
Penguin Random House Has Strong First Half Profits, Is Lifted by Continuing Bestsellers and Acquisitions
Bertelsmann reported results for the first half of the year on Thursday, with sales at Penguin Random House+ (the PRH joint venture, plus the separate Random House Germany) registering €1.650 billion, up €168 million from a year ago. Operating EBITDA grew to €227 million, up €56 million compared to the first half of 2018. As PRH ceo Markus Dohle celebrated in his letter to staff, “Penguin Random House’s top- and bottom-line revenue is up overall in most of our key markets.” Bertelsmann attributed the gains to strong bestsellers (Michelle Obama’s BECOMING — which sold another 2.8 million units in the […]
Quarto Loses A Little Less Ahead of “Particularly Challenging” Fall; BNED Sets Meeting, and More
Quarto released half-year results for 2019, reporting an improvement in earnings — which is to say, a smaller loss — amidst a prediction of a challenging second half of the year. Revenue was up slightly to $56.4m, from $56.2 million in the first half of 2018, but those sales were spread across fewer books, as part of the company’s cost-reduction program. The total operating loss was $(1.2) million, an improvement from $(4.7) million in last year’s period; adjusted loss before tax was $(4.0) million compared to $(6.6) million. The company suggests that the “net debt [has] reduced significantly,” but that’s […]