Scholastic reported fiscal fourth quarter 2017 sales through May 31 of $499.6 million, down $14.2 million from a year ago, on lower sales in children’s publishing and distribution and international. Operating income for the quarter was $64.2 million, up $5.8 million on increased education sales and lower costs. Children’s trade sales were $43.3 million for the quarter (down $2.4 million from a year ago), though for the full year trade sales were $307.9 million on last year’s new Harry Potter books, compared to $211.7 million in fiscal 2016. The Potter gain comprised all of the year’s sales increase and then […]
Publishers
Quarto Falls on Profit Warning, and China Literature Heads for IPO
Ahead of reporting results for the first half of 2017, Quarto Group warned that its earnings guidance “for 2017 and beyond has been set too high.” That’s due to both “a lower-than expected trading performance in the year to date” during “the ongoing soft retail environment” as well as an accounting adjustment from the previous year. With their publishing program weighted towards the fall, they still expect “to perform significantly better in the second half.” The wording sounds mild, but the stock market reacted strongly: Quarto’s have fallen over 25 percent since the announcement. Additionally, Brian Porritt has been appointed interim […]
Nearly Flat for the Year, Wiley’s Earnings Nudge Up As Book Sales Keep Falling
Wiley reported fiscal 2017 fourth quarter earnings for the year ending April 30 on Tuesday morning, with sales of $452 million (up $18 million from a year ago) and adjusted operating income of $61.7 million (up from $51.1 million a year ago), with earnings ahead of analysts’ expectations. For the full year, sales of $1.718.5 billion were down slightly, by $8.5 million, with adjusted operating income of $228 million, versus $217 million a year ago. Interim ceo Matthew Kissner says in the release, “We posted stronger revenue and earnings growth this quarter, largely due to growth in our Solutions business and […]
Potter and FX Lift Bloomsbury’s Sales, But Not Profits
Bloomsbury reported results for their fiscal year, ending February 28, with sales of £142.6 million, up £18.9 million, as profit before tax fell £1 million to £12 million. Despite their intention “to become primarily a non-consumer publisher in the B2B academic and professional information market,” Bloomsbury is still very much Harry Potter House. Virtually all of the gains came from their children’s division, where sales rose £18.2 million to £55.9 million — as Potter sales were 88 percent higher than the previous year — and the weak British pound was the other main driver. (Topline sales were up 15 percent, but […]
Lagardere Publishing Gains On Perseus and Rowling
Lagardere Publishing reported results for the first quarter of 2017, with sales of €440 million, up €25 million from a year ago — though €18 million of that gain came from the addition of the Perseus imprints, leaving a 1.7 percent rise in the traditionally modest quarter. A “significant restocking of J.K. Rowling titles” in the UK accounted a portion of the increase as well. The good news is that both HBG USA and Hachette UK improved in the quarter, up 4.1 percent and 8.1 percent respectively; though that is muted when you remember that both divisions declined significantly in the […]
Harper’s Sales Rebound A Little
Sales rebounded somewhat at HarperCollins in the parent company News Corp.’s fiscal third quarter, ending March 31, with revenues of $374 million. That’s a $16 million gain from the same quarter a year ago, though that was a poor period for Harper; in the same quarter in fiscal 2015 sales were $402 million. And $7 million of the quarter’s gain came from the impact of international acquisitions. In the conference call with investors, executives admitted that sales of Veronica Roth’s Carve the Mark, while a contributor to the quarter, “were off to a slower start than anticipated.” In the coming quarter, though […]