Publishers

As is their tradition, Lagardere followed up the headline reporting of 2013 sales from with additional reporting on their profits. On the already noted sales of €2.066 billion for Lagardere Publishing, recurring EBIT was flat at €223 million. Because sales fell 10 million euros, and EBIT was up €6 million under the hypothetical constant exchange rate, they celebrate that “publishing successfully raised its operating margin.” Outside of operating profits, however, Lagardere took a €24 million impairment charge in the publishing division, “especially on Partworks in Spain.” US profit “was significantly higher thanks to several best-sellers and the positive effects of growth […]

Wiley reported adjusted third quarter sales of $458 million and operating income $77.6 million, both down slightly. The company took charges of $4.3 million in the quarter related to their ongoing restructuring program, and they expect to take another $10 million of charges in the fourth quarter. The company’s reduced trade book lines are now reported inside the “professional development” segment, where adjusted revenue declined 5 percent o $94.2 million — attributed to “a decline in print books (-9 percent), particularly due to lower demand for technology titles and the discontinuation of certain low-margin non-divested consumer titles.” Digital book sales […]

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt reported fourth quarter 2013 sales of $299 million, up 6 percent, though trade sales for the period fell $6 million (or 12 percent) to $46 million, “as revenues normalized following higher Tolkien licensing revenue in 2012.” Trade’s adjusted EBITDA was much lower, down $8 million to $5 million. Companywide, HMH had adjusted EBITDA of $55 million, and an operating loss of $60 million, compared to a loss of $28 million a year ago. For the full year, however, trade sales still reached an all-time high, at $171 million, driven by the expanded culinary line (thanks to the […]

Sales and earnings fell again in the fourth quarter for Harlequin, continuing a pattern of quarterly and annual declines. Sales of $95 million (CA) for the fourth quarter were down $10 million from a year ago, with EBITDA of $11.5 million (compared to $16.8 million last year). Most of the sales drop was in North America, blamed on ebook price wars, as “digital revenues in North America were believed to be negatively affected by increased discounts being offered on digital sales of other publishers’ bestselling titles.” For the full year, sales of $398 million were down 6.75 percent and EBITDA […]

Pearson reported full-year results for 2013, with sales from continuing operations rising 2 percent to £5.177 billion and adjusted operating profit of £736 million, down 21 percent on significant restructuring charges of £135 million and 6% lower margins. The headline for investors is that the company expects another £50 million in restructuring charges in 2014 and warned that adjusted earnings for the coming year will be lower — ranging from 62 to 67 pence per share, compared to 70 pence per share in 2013. As a result, Pearson’s shares are down about 7.5 percent in today’s trading. CEO John Fallon […]

Quarto Group announced a series of changes alongside their full-year 2013 results, including a rebrand of its publishing divisions; a joint venture agreement in Brazil with Grupo Nobel; and the consolidation of their challenged display marketing businesses in Australia and New Zealand, into the single Books & Gifts Direct unit. As part of the company’s ongoing “strategic review” and simplification of their organization, both of their publishing divisions will carry the Quarto name. So the Aurum Publishing Group will now be known as Quarto Publishing Group UK, and the Quayside Publishing Group will go forward as Quarto Publishing Group US. Sydney-based creative studio […]