Publishers

Lagardere reported fourth quarter sales after the close of the market in France on Wednesday (profits will be reported next month, in the European tradition). A strong final quarter gives a solid boost to their 2015 performance: Sales for the quarter were €631 million — compared to €537 million euros a year ago — up 9.2 percent on a like-for-like basis and 17.5 percent overall. Sales gains added €59 million euros; the strong US dollar and UK pound boosted results by €38 million, and UK acquisitions added €7 million. For all of 2015, Lagardere Publishing had sales of  €2.206 billion — up just […]

HarperCollins reported sales for their fiscal second quarter, ending December 31. Total revenues declined $23 million, or 5 percent to $446 million for the quarter, while EBITDA dropped 26 percent to $57 million (compared to $77 million a year ago). The company blamed “lower e-book sales, negative foreign currency fluctuations and lower revenues from the Divergent series” for the declines. Digital sales comprised 16 percent of consumer revenues for the quarter, compared to 17 percent at this time a year ago. Harper said that the release of Ree Drummond’s THE PIONEER WOMAN COOKS: DINNERTIME did boost general books sales, but this marks their fifth straight […]

Google’s new parent company Alphabet reported fourth quarter earnings after the close of the market on Monday. The company exceeded investors’ expectations, reporting sales of $21.3 billion and net income of $4.9 billion (or $7.16 a share). The stock rose more than 4 percent in early Tuesday trading on the news, which brings shares close to an all-time high. Other revenues — the line item that includes the Play store — had sales of $2.1 billion in the fourth quarter, up 24 percent compared to $1.688 billion a year ago. For the full year, that sector had sales of $7.151 billion, compared to $6.05 […]

After first surprising markets by reducing their sales and profit expectations last October, on Thursday morning Pearson ceo John Fallon admitted “that the cyclical and policy related challenges in our biggest markets have been more pronounced and persisted for longer than anticipated.” Another round of restructuring and reorganization is expected to eliminate 4,000 jobs — or 10 percent of the company’s workforce — and cost “approximately £320 million” in one-time charges this year. While you might expect that such dramatic moves would further sink the stock — which as we noted before fell 42 percent in 2015 and dropped again in early January […]

Scholastic reported fiscal second quarter results on Thursday, with sales falling $9.3 million to $601.8 million, and earnings from continuing operations declining to $1.85 a share, compared to $2.02 a year ago. Operating profit of $105.1 million was down 5 percent versus last year. The strong US dollar cost the company $17.2 million in negative foreign exchange impact, and based on those currency “headwinds” as well as a “now settled labor action in Ontario schools that resulted in a substantial drop in reading club and book fair revenues” during the back-to-school period, Scholastic reduced its full-year guidance. Fiscal 2016 sales are now projected to be […]

Wiley reported second quarter sales for the period ending October 31, with sales falling 5 percent to $433 million (down $44 million) on currency exchange. Adjusted operating income of $64 million was down 13 percent for the quarter, and net income was down $8 million (or 11 percent) to $45.9 million. In the professional development division, which includes their remaining trade books, revenue dropped 3 percent overall to $99.2 million. Book sales were down 6 percent, however, with print book sales of $49.2 million declining 4 percent, and digital book sales of $11.9 million were down 14 percent. For the rest of fiscal […]