It’s another fascinating day of fallout from the sales of Wiley’s trade assets. In Houghton Mifflin Harcourt’s recently issued 2012 annual report, the company characterizes their acquisition of Wiley’s culinary and reference books as a “bargain purchase.” It was such a good deal, in fact, that HMH booked a special $30.8 million gain on the acquisition. They paid $11 million, but determined that “the fair value assigned to the net assets exceeded the consideration paid,” valuing the whole package at $41.8 million. That tells you something about how lean the offers were for Wiley’s properties, regardless of their value, and […]
Publishers
Random House Posts Big Profits on Fifty Shades
Random House had sales of €2.142 billion (up 393 million euros, or 22 percent) and record operating EBIT of 325 million euros (a 75 percent increase over 185 million euros a year ago) in 2012, on the extraordinary sales of over 70 million copies of EL James’s Fifty Shades trilogy sold in English, German and Spanish editions. The company was strong around the world, as it “posted year-on-year increases in revenue and operating EBIT across all its territories.” Results for the second half of the fiscal year by itself were €1.195 billion in sales and operating EBIT of €212 million. At parent […]
Houghton Trade Finished with Strong Quarter
Last week we reported updated sales figures for HarperCollins–revealed via SEC proxy documents rather than the standard quarterly disclosure–and now we’ve found belatedly that Houghton Mifflin Harcourt has resumed regular public reporting following their bankruptcy reorganization last year. HMH trade finished 2012 with a strong fourth quarter, with sales of $52 million–up a big $16 million from the previous year–and EBITDA of $13 million. The company was boosted by strong movie tie-ins for The Hobbit and Life of Pi. The fourth quarter results include in part the cookbooks and reference books purchased from Wiley in early November for at least […]
Quarto to Sell Selected Assets After Challenging 2012
Following a tumultuous year that saw the ouster by shareholders of co-founder Laurence Orbach, Quarto reported 2012 results and reasserted their plans for the future, which include the possibility of selling off some of their hodgepodge of assets to help pay down their debt. (Borrowings include approximately $91 million in medium- and long-term loans). Sales fell $5.2 million to $180.9 million for the year. Profit before amortization and special items was $16.6 million, and after-tax profit of $5.5 million was down over 30 percent from $8.1 million a year ago. US trade sales of $59 million fell 12 percent, due […]
At Lagardere, Profits Rise Less Than Sales
In the European style, a month after reporting 2012 sales, Lagardere added a second report on their earnings. As noted previously, sales rose slightly at Lagardere Publishing to 2.077 billion euros (up 39 million euros), but EBIT nudged up less, gaining just 2 million euros at 223 million euros for the year. The company says that, “as expected, the second half of the year was marked by a substantial rise in profitability, enabling to maintain a high operating margin level of 10.7 percent throughout 2012.” Profits were “significantly higher” in the UK “thanks to commercial successes, the dramatic growth of […]
Results Rise at Wiley, But Restructuring Will Cut Jobs, With $25 Million Charge This Quarter
Third quarter sales at Wiley rose 5 percent to $472 million, as operating income of $83.6 million rose 7 percent and adjusted net income of $55.9 million (or 93 cents a share) was up 4.3 percent. (Adjusted results reflect the trade publishing properties sold to Google and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, which comprised $12 million of sales in the quarter.) That performance beat analysts’ expectations of $456 million in sales of 83 cents per share of profits. At the same time, Wiley advised that they expect to take a $25 million restructuring charge in the current quarter, and “at least one […]