Bertelsmann issued a brief first quarter trading update (in the European style), with sales just above flat at €3.92 billion and operating EBITDA up 6.7 percent to €463 million (from €434 million a year ago). Net income rose to €143 million from €106 million last year. Though not mentioned in the report, bear in mind that — as we underscored earlier — that the contribution from Penguin Random House is supercharged this quarter by the strong dollar (and British pound, relative to the euro). CEO Thomas Rabe says in the short release: “The year started well for Bertelsmann. We achieved […]
Publishers
Sales Rise at HMH and Company Increases Loan, Repurchase Targets
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt reported first quarter results Thursday morning, with sales of $163 million, up almost 6 percent from $154 million a year ago, “driven by higher education and trade publishing sales and the recognition of previously deferred revenue.” The seasonal adjusted EBITDA loss of $52 million compares to a loss of $53 million a year ago, though the net loss $160 million (or $1.12 a share) was up from $146 million a year ago on higher income tax. Trade Publishing sales rose $2 million, or 5 percent, to $32 million for the quarter, “driven by strong net sales of frontlist culinary titles,” Newbery winner The Crossover, and “strong backlist sales of […]
Harper Grows with Harlequin, But Core Comp Falls With Lower Divergent Sales
HarperCollins’ parent company News Corp. reported third quarter fiscal year sales for the period ending March 31 after the close of the market on Tuesday. As you would expect overall sales rose at HarperCollins in the third quarter because the Harlequin acquisition makes them a bigger company, with sales of $402 million, up 14 percent on the quarter last year, while EBITDA increased 6 percent to $56 million. But on a comparable basis, HarperCollins itself without the addition of Harlequin saw sales decline 5 percent, down $18 million to $336 million, as core EBITDA fell 8 percent, to a still […]
Penguin Random House By the Numbers
We wound up discovering and deriving more information about Penguin Random House’s results from further review of their annual reports yesterday (which disclose breakdowns not offered up in their standard earnings releases). Most importantly, looking back at Bertelsmann’s 2013 annual report, we established a comparison baseline for 2013 results for Penguin Random House. That report said that if Penguin’s results had been incorporated for the full year (instead of just the last six months), 2013 book publishing sales for Bertelsmann would have been €3.248 billion overall — with PRH contributing €2.986 billion and the rest coming from PRH Germany. So we can […]
With First Full Penguin Random House Annual Results, Dohle Says “We Are Stronger Together”
Bertelsmann reported financial results for 2014 on Tuesday morning, providing the first look at a full year’s worth of performance for the merged Penguin Random House. (A year ago, the 2013 report incorporated only six months worth of Penguin’s sales.) The trade publishing giant had combined sales of €3.324 billion for the year, including Random House Germany, which is still owned entirely by Bertelsmann outside of the PRH joint venture. Operating EBITDA rose in line with sales, to €452 million, “driven by numerous major bestsellers, especially in the field of children’s books, as well as tie-ins to popular movies and TV series and […]
Revenue Gains on Bigger Losses for Scholastic’s Third Quarter
Scholastic reported third quarter sales of $382.1 million, up 2 percent (or $8.6 million) from a year ago, “largely driven by strong sales in children’s books, especially in the company’s school-based distribution channels, higher circulation of the company’s classroom magazines, and increased sales of classroom books and literacy initiatives.” But Scholastic reported a third quarter loss of $22.1 million, or 68 cents a share, versus a loss of $12.1 million (or 38 cents a share) a year ago, because of greater one-time charges and the end of a tax benefit that boosted the company at the same time last year. […]