Publishers

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 […]

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 […]

Simon & Schuster’s parent company CBS reported first quarter earnings on Thursday afternoon, with sales at the book publisher down $1 million, to $160 million, and operating income up $1 million, to $16 million, “reflecting lower operating expenses resulting from the revenue mix.” (CBS overall had “record first-quarter revenue” of $3.76 billion” and an “all-time quarterly high in adjusted operating income of $772 million.) Simon & Schuster ceo Carolyn Reidy said that digital audio was the standout segment of the quarter, “way up” by 43 percent, due to “some great titles” for the medium (primarily Jason Matthews’ movie tie-in Red […]

Quarto reported “poor results” for the full year of 2017, but after a very weak first half and a profit warning in November, sales for the second half of the year from continuing operations were up 5.8 percent. For the full year, continuing sales were $152.5 million, down $2.1 million, with an operating loss of $17.9 million, compared to an operating profit the previous year of $16.1 million. Their after tax loss was $18.5 million, compared to a loss of $5.3 million a year ago. The company notes that operating margin “was impacted by a combination of factors including high […]

Bertelsmann reported full year 2017 results on Tuesday morning in Germany, with sales at Penguin Random House just below flat, at €3.359 billion (down €2 million from 2016). Operating EBITDA for the publisher fell 2.9 percent to €521 million (down €16 million), “particularly as a result of negative exchange rate effects.” (Per our style, from here forward, we will refer to the PRH reporting division, which includes the separate Random House Germany, as PRH+, and will use PRH for just the Penguin Random House joint venture.) At PRH on its own, sales were €3.075 billion, up €16 million from a year ago, reflecting the […]

After releasing 2017 sales information only in February, Lagardere followed up Thursday evening with their earnings report. The publishing division had earnings of €210 million, up €2 million from a year ago, on sales of €2.289 billion (up €25 million from 2016). The news from the release was that companywide earnings were modest, up just €8 million to €405 million, and the guidance is for “stable” (or flat) earnings in 2018. Lagardere’s shares are down over 7 percent in Friday trading as a result. Those earnings also reinforce that, while Lagardere Publishing’s margins appear lower than their trade publishing peers, the unit remains Lagardere’s […]