News Corporation reported fiscal third quarter earnings after the close of the market on Thursday, with sales falling $44 million at HarperCollins, down 11 percent to $358 million for the period. The impact on EBITDA was sharper, at $36 million, down $20 million from a year ago. The company blamed “lower revenues from American Sniper by Chris Kyle and the Divergent series by Veronica Roth (… combined, those two franchises accounted for the majority of the year-over-year revenue shortfall …), lower e-book sales and negative foreign currency fluctuations,” though they did implement some “cost savings initiatives.” That negative sales trend has been […]
Publishers
Trade Falls at HMH In First Quarter
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt reported first quarter sales, with revenues of $206 million, up from $163 million a year ago, primarily on the addition of Scholastic’s EdTech business. The seasonal net loss of $165 million was $5 million (or 3 percent) higher than a year ago. In education, there was a “decline in domestic education billings due to smaller new adoption market in 2016 versus 2015.” The company said that trade sales of $31.5 million were down $2.3 million, or 7 percent, in the quarter, “due to a decrease in net sales of ebooks attributed to fewer movie tie-ins of bestselling ebook […]
A Flat Quarter for Simon & Schuster
Simon & Schuster’s parent company CBS reported first quarter results after the close of the market on Tuesday, with the publisher reporting flat sales of $145 million, as operating income was up $1 million to $13 million, “primarily reflecting lower production and selling costs” and driven by “operating efficiencies.” While sales were even with a year ago, that was a modest bar (since they had sales of $153 million in Q1 2014; $171 million in Q1 2013; and $176 million in Q1 2012). CEO Carolyn Reidy acknowledged to us the opening quarter has been soft “for the last couple of years” while adding […]
Corporate: Pearson Has Expected Q1 Decline, As CBS Considers Buyout of Redstone Shares
Pearson issued a first quarter “trading update” in connection with their annual meeting. As expected, results were weak, with overall sales down 6 percent, “in line with expectations.” They say Penguin Random House “had a solid first-quarter performance with a strong bestseller performance and net integration benefits partly offset by reduced demand for ebooks, following industry-wide changes in terms in 2015.” In other corporate news, Reuters reported exclusively that CBS has held “preliminary and ongoing” discussions with investment bankers in recent months regarding “how it could buy CBS’s voting shares from Redstone’s National Amusements Inc, and collapse CBS’s dual-class share […]
Trade Gains Lift Scholastic’s Sales, on Narrower Seasonal Loss
Scholastic reported fiscal third quarter results on Thursday, with sales up $19.5 million to $366 million, as losses from continuing operations were cut by over half to 21 cents a share, compared to 48 cents a share a year ago. The operating loss of $16.4 million was also well below last year’s deficit this quarter of $24.7 million. (Scholastic typically reports a seasonal loss in the third quarter, which is generally its weakest.) The strong US dollar cost the company $9 million in negative foreign exchange. Fiscal 2016 sales are still projected to be roughly $1.65 billion, but the company reduced earnings guidance […]
Penguin Random House Sales Rise On Currency Boost
Bertelsmann reported 2015 sales on Tuesday morning, with headline results for Penguin Random House showing sales of €3.717 billion — up 393 million — and operating ebitda of €557 million, up €105 million. (Note that we mentioned throughout 2015 that the rising dollar alone could lift PRH’s sales by €350 million to €400 million or more, which was pretty much on target.) Traditionally most of the trade reporting you’ll read on the PRH results comes from the earnings press release, but we turn to the company’s 140-page annual report for more granular detail on the book publisher’s performance. Sales at […]