Publishers

Pearson reported full-year results for a rough 2015 that are line with their previously-reduced guidance, and their January announcement of plans to cut 4,000 jobs and take restructuring charges of £320 million in 2016. For 2015, sales of £4.468 billion fell by 2 percent (£72 million), and adjusted operating profit of £723m was down by the same 2 percent (£9 million). Actual operating profit, however, swung to a loss of -£404 million (compared to profits of £348 in 2014). The two big movements of the year are found in their “statutory profit” of £823 million. On the positive side, sales of the FT, The Economist […]

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt reported fourth quarter and full-year results Thursday morning, and for the second quarter in a row their performance fell short of analysts’ expectations, even after revising their guidance in November. Fourth quarter sales were $298 million, with a net loss of $97 million — $13 million higher than the net loss a year, or -$.75 a share (versus expectations of -$.56 a share). Despite the miss, however, the stock is up over 4 percent in early trading. Trade division sales were $50 million for the fourth quarter, up $2 million, and trade adjusted EBITDA was flat at […]

Simon & Schuster built on a small gain in the third quarter for a big gain in the fourth quarter that lifted full-year sales just above the previous year, by $2 million. Fourth quarter sales of $233 million were $18 million (or 8 percent) ahead of the same quarter a year ago, “driven by growth in print book sales.” CEO Carolyn Reidy told us sales in the quarter were up across all units, with adult book sales up 10 percent, children’s books up 8 percent, and audio up 23 percent. (International sales rose on an underlying basis, but were flat after […]

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 […]