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 €1.482 billion, down €48 million (or 3.1 percent) overall from a year ago. Operating EBITDA fell further, to €171 million, down 35 million (or 17 percent). The company blamed “high negative exchange rate effects – in particular from the US dollar…among other factors” for the declines. In the investor call, cfo Bernd Hirsch said that “a little bit more than 50 percent” of the drop in EBITDA was due to foreign […]
Publishers
New Accounting Rules Will Likely Lift Penguin Random House’s Sales: It’s A Long Story
On Thursday Penguin Random House’s parent company Bertelsmann will be the last of the big companies to report financial results through June 30, and when that happens, there will be something different about PRH’s results. The company will use a different accounting method for their ebook sales, making their overall sales for the past six months unlike previous PRH reports. That will also make their sales report unlike those of all the other publishers that we have reported so far this earnings season. That difference is that for many (but not all) ebook sales, PRH will start counting the full consumer […]
Harper Has Big Gains In Sales, Profits
News Corp reported fourth quarter results on Thursday, with HarperCollins turning in a strong quarter, recording sales of $490 — up $83 million from the same period a year ago. Along with the higher sales, book publishing EBITDA was much higher too, at $71 million, compared to $39 million a year ago. One big, profitable boost was $28 million of revenue from the sublicensing agreement for J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy, in which Amazon Studios acquired global television rights. That’s the “advance” for the rights, and the primary expected cash benefit from the agreement for the foreseeable […]
Simon & Schuster Continues to Drive Earnings Higher
CBS reported second quarter results on Thursday afternoon, with sales at Simon & Schuster up $1 million to $207 million, as operating income continued its steady, long-term improvement, at $31 million, up $2 million from a year ago, “reflecting the higher revenues and lower production costs.” Embattled ceo Leslie Moonves surprised some by leading the company’s investor call as usual, and he said Simon & Schuster’s “terrific line-up of bestselling authors continues to deliver hits.” (The moderator said at the beginning of the call that “in light of pending litigation” and “on advice of counsel” the discussion would be limited […]
Even Trade Sales Fell As HMH Reports A Down Quarter
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt reported sales of $376 million for the second quarter of 2018, down $17 million. Both the operating loss of $9 million and the net loss of $23 million show improvement from a year ago — when they took a big restructuring charge — and was helped by the corporate tax cut. But adjusted EBITDA of $62 million was $11 million lower than a year ago, on the decline in sales. The company reaffirmed its guidance for the year and ceo Jack Lynch said in the announcement, “Despite a trough year in the market, HMH is performing well […]
More Earnings: Pearson Says PRH Sales Fell, Amazon Keeps Growing
Pearson reported modest results for the first half of 2018, with “good progress against strategic priorities” and their “efficiency program on track,” in line with their previous guidance for the year. (Which called for falling overall operating profit, though growth in the “underlying” profit.) The US higher ed business “grew modestly in the first half helped by lower returns, as expected” but is still projected to decline in the more important second half due to “underlying market pressures.” And the US K12 business remains up for sale. Profits from their stake in Penguin Random House declined to £22 million — […]