Lagardere reported second quarter (and half-year) results on Thursday, with sales at the publishing division down 3.7 in the quarter, at €558 million, versus €579 million a year ago. Last year’s acquisitions — primarily Bookouture, Jessica Kingsley, Summersdale and IsCool Entertainment — added about €6 million to second quarter sales (and €18 million in the first half of the year). Foreign exchange — primarily the weakening US dollar — cost €19 million in the quarter, and €42 million in the first half of the year. First half sales totalled €1 billion, down €19 million, and recurring EBIT was €40 million, […]
Publishers
Briefs: Bloomsbury In Line with Expectations, Atavist Was Sold
Bloomsbury issued a brief trading update on the first four months of their fiscal year, through June 30, still “in line with its expectations” for the year. Sales were up 3.7 percent with the recently-acquired IB Tauris — and 2.1 percent without two months of Tauris’s sales. The company said they had “a particularly strong result in the adult division.” Catching up on some news from June, we note that Atavist was acquired by Automattic (the owner of WordPress.com owner). The deal included Atavist’s proprietary content management system, along with digital Atavist Magazine. Automattic had acquired digital publisher Longreads in 2014. […]
Barnes & Noble Ends the Year On Further Declines
Barnes & Noble reported fourth quarter and full-year results Thursday morning, and once more the trendline for the company is decidedly downward. Sales for the quarter were $786 million, a decline of 4.3 percent from the prior year, while comparable store sales dropped 4.1 percent. Consolidated EBITDA was $6.7 million in the fourth quarter, as compared to $5.6 million a year ago. The company incurred a fourth quarter net loss of $21.1 million, or $0.29 per share, compared to a loss of $13.4 million, or $0.19 per share, in the prior year, factoring in a $7.7 million charge “associated with […]
Strong Sales for Bloomsbury
Bloomsbury reported sales for fiscal 2018, ending February 28, with sales rising 13 percent (or £19 million) to £161.5 million in what they call “an exceptional year.” Almost all of the growth came from children’s publishing, which added £13.3 million, growing to £69.2 million overall, helped by a 31 percent increase in Harry Potter sales. Adult trade sales of £33.1 million were up £3.6 million. Building on those strong sales, the board “believes the group’s performance will be well ahead of our previous expectations for the forthcoming year.” Operating EBITDA before special items was £15.98 million, compared to £14.84 million […]
First Quarter Highlights from Lagardere, Bertelsmann
Lagardere and Bertelsmann issued short first quarter highlight reports on Thursday morning. The more detailed report comes from Lagardere, where the book publishing division had sales of €442 million, up €2 million from a year ago. Last year’s acquisitions — primarily Brainbow, Bookouture, Summersdale and Jessica Kingsley — added €12 million in sales, while the weakening US dollar and British pound cost the unit -€23 million in foreign exchange. Lagardere says that sales in the US showed “solid growth, up 5.4%, lifted by the continued success of the backlist, especially Pete Souza’s Obama: An Intimate Portrait, and by a busy release schedule at Grand […]
Harper Gains In Third Quarter
News Corp. reported fiscal third quarter results on Thursday afternoon, with HarperCollins showing gains in sales and earnings. Sales grew $24 million, or 6 percent, to $398 million (almost back to the $402 million they registered in fiscal 2015). Foreign exchange accounted for $10 million of the gain, and digital sales grew in line with overall sales, thanks to digital audio, still comprising 22 percent of consumer revenues. EBITDA of $43 million was up $6 million. The company cited “higher sales in general and Christian publishing…and the continued strength of backlist titles such as The Subtle Art of Not Giving […]