Still a publicly-traded company for now, Books-a-Million reported third quarter results on Tuesday afternoon. Sales of $101.6 million were $400,000 ahead of sales from a year ago, with same-store sales up 1.6 percent. But the company’s loss was slightly higher, by $200,000, at $7.1 million or 50 cents a share. The company attributed that to $800,000 in expenses related to the Anderson family’s pending buyout. In the release, ceo Terrance Finley said, “We saw improved sales in our core book and general merchandise categories, led by the positive impact of the growing coloring book trend. We also hosted several author events, namely those highlighting […]
Publishers
Lagardere Gains On Currency As HBG USA Waits for Fourth Quarter
Lagardere reported third quarter sales on Tuesday, with the publishing division growing 2 percent on a like-for-like basis and 7.4 percent overall — thanks to a still surging dollar and strong UK pound — at €607 million, up €43 million from a year ago. Foreign exchange accounted for €32 million of the gain. (Similarly, for the first nine months of the year, foreign exchange accounts for €102 million of the unit’s gains, with €21 million coming from acquisitions, primarily in the UK.) Hachette Book Group USA had another decline, down 4.2 percent in the third quarter, “mainly due to challenging comparison with brisk sales in third quarter […]
Another Soft Quarter for Harper As Profits Are Hit, Even with WATCHMAN
HarperCollins reported sales for their fiscal first quarter, ending September 30. Total revenues rose $3 million, or 1 percent to $406 million for the quarter, while EBITDA dropped 24 percent to $42 million (compared to $55 million a year ago). But “adjusted” revenues, setting aside the addition of Harlequin (which was acquired during the third quarter in 2014) fell by $7 million, and adjusted EBITDA declined $20 million, to $40 million. While the Harlequin acquisition has gone well for the company, the core HarperCollins sales have declined (or been flat) the last four straight quarters. And the company did get […]
HMH Stumbles On Soft Education Market
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt reported a difficult third quarter and reduced their expectations for the full year. Sales were up $25 million to $576 million for the quarter — but that include $82 million from the recently-acquired EdTech business they bought from Scholastic. Without that addition, sales would have been down $58 million. Operating income fell $13.5 million to $102.6 million. “In light of a softer open territory market and smaller supplemental and residual market,” the company reduced its guidance for the full year, and the stock is down more than 7 percent this morning. To appease investors, they authorized another […]
Quarterly Briefs: Continued Improvement For Indigo; Quarto Stays Flat
Canada’s Indigo reported second quarter results on Tuesday, with sales rising $16.7 million (CA), or 8.8 percent, to $206 million, and a reduced net loss of $1.8 million, compared to a loss of $8.5 million a year ago. As in the previous year, “revenue growth was driven by the continued double digit growth of the general merchandise business” mainly in “paper and toys,” with changes to the paper business to account for the weakness of the Canadian dollar. The company’s core book business growth also got a big boost “by the trend for adult coloring books,” while reducing costs related […]
Simon & Schuster Has Modest Gain in Third Quarter
After four straight quarters of declining sales, Simon & Schuster gained $4 million (or 2 percent) in the third quarter, with sales of $203 million. (While that’s an improvement from $199 million in the same quarter a year ago, it’s still well below where third quarter sales have been previously: $224 million recorded in 2013, $220 million in 2012, and $210 million in 2011.) More consistent are the division’s profits, which have remained robust even as sales have generally ebbed over recent quarters: They had OIBDA of $42 million in the third quarter, up $1 million from the previous year, and operating income […]