Sales inched up at Scholastic in their fiscal second quarter, ending November 30, rising $9.7 million to $623 million. But operating income of $94.7 million was down 7 percent as the company wrote down $13.4 million on “legacy acquisitions” in the children’s publishing and distribution segment and took a $5.5 million one-time charge for “cost reduction and restructuring programs” as well. At the same time, Scholastic said it will exercise an option to purchase their headquarters building in Soho for $255 million before the end of the year. They say it “should provide a number of benefits, including enhanced free […]
Publishers
Realigned Wiley Grows
Wiley reported second quarter 2014 results of $449 million, up 8 percent on an “adjusted” basis. Net income increased 9 percent to $49.9 million (or 84 cents a share). Overall digital book revenue increased 40 percent compared to last year, to $31.4 million. The professional development segment, where Wiley’s remaining trade book lines resides, grew 7 percent for the quarter on an adjusted basis to $92.5 million, driven by digital books and online training and assessment. Wiley also recorded another $15.3 million in restructuring charges as part of its previously announced realignment — $2.1 million of which applied to the […]
Barnes & Noble Sells Less of Everything — But Shows Surprise Profit
Barnes & Noble reported weak sales across all of their divisions for the company’s fiscal second quarter (ending October 26), but a slightly smaller Nook loss and some of the fee concessions they’ve won from publishers for the retail stores allowed the company to produce something strange: actual net income. Sales for the quarter were $1.73 billion, down 8 percent or $150 million from a year ago, but EBITDA of $75.7 million was $9.1 million higher than 2012 and net income of $13 million, or 15 cents a share, was much improved and well ahead of expectations. (The loss for the […]
Earnings Reports: Hastings, Courier, and Osprey
Hastings reported third quarter sales of $94.7 million, down 6.6 percent, with 10 fewer superstores than the same period a year ago. Book sales declined 11.7 percent in the quarter, which the company blamed on “a weaker release schedule for new books and a decrease in trade paperback sales,” particularly given the effect of Fifty Shades a year ago as well as (when sales were only 1.4 percent in the same quarter). Books are down 11.8 percent for the year so far as well. At Courier Corporation, fourth-quarter sales rose 9 percent to $84 million and net income rose as […]
Sales Rise At HBG US, But Decline Across Lagardere Publishing
At Lagardere, sales at the book publishing division fell 46 million euros in the third quarter, down 7.4 percent overall (and 4.1 percent on a currency neutral, like-for-like business). Results for their international portfolio were quite mixed. Sales at HBG USA were up 11 percent, “particularly with the success of Nicholas Sparks’ The Longest Ride.” But even with the second two volumes of the Fifty Shades trilogy and Dan Brown’s Inferno, their big French division suffered large drops in both “general literature” and education. The education segment remained weak in Spain as well, were sales declined modestly. The UK group […]
At Harper, Sales Fall But Profits Rise
News Corp. reported its first fiscal quarter in its new incarnation as spin-off public company. At HarperCollins, sales of $328 million were down $24 million (7 percent) from a year ago, but EBITDA rose $3 million (or 7.5 percent) to $43 million, on “the higher contribution to profits from e-books and ongoing operational efficiencies.” eBooks comprised 22 percent of sales, up 30 percent from the same quarter a year ago. The company said “improved e-book sales were more than offset by the divestiture of [Thomas Nelson’s] Women of Faith live events business, the decision to exit the third party distribution business […]