What you can say about Lagardere Publishing’s reported sales for the first half of the year is, it could have been worse. Even with “a substantial market contraction in all countries in which the division operates”–from a 2.9 percent decline in French results to a 4 percent drop in US sales and a 7.6 percent decline in the UK–totals sales of 905 million euros were actually up, by a slim 0.5 percent on a reported basis, compared to 900 million euros a year ago. (Apparently “a complex accounting adjustment linked to reserves for returns in education” helped balance out those […]
Publishers
Quarto Exceeds “Expectations” In First Part of “A Difficult Year”
The Quarto Group reported interim results for the first half of the year as “performance exceeded expectations,” according to chairman and ceo Laurence Orbach, “a good achievement given the challenging economic environment globally.” But looking forward they have a “cloudy outlook” and Orbach says “we know that this is already a difficult year and, in the short term, is likely to remain that way.” Sales rose only 1 percent, to $73.2 million (reflecting underlying softness, given the acquisition of Frances Lincoln last August), with adjusted EBITDA of $13.8 million also up 1 percent and operating profit of $2.9 million, up […]
Indigo First Quarter Sales Dip But Loses Less Money
For their fiscal first quarter ending June 30, Indigo reported sales from continuing operations of C$186.5 million, down 1.8 percent from a year ago, with a net loss of C$5.5 million, significantly less than the $12 million the company lost a year ago. The revenue drop was primarily “driven by lower Kobo eReader sales when compared to the strong launch of the Kobo Touch in the same period last year” and by Indigo closing 8 stores over the past year. The narrowed net loss came about thanks to “improvements in net margins and lower operating expenses” and no longer having […]
Harper Reports “Strong” Fourth Quarter, Takes eBook Settlement Charge
News Corp. reported fourth quarter earnings after the close of the market Wednesday. As usual, the release says almost nothing about their book publishing results and does not mention Harper by name, though the newspaper-dominated “publishing” division saw operating income fall almost in half, at $139 million for the quarter compared to $270 million a year ago. The publishing results “reflect a litigation settlement charge related to sales of e-books,” but the report does not disclose the amount. Part of the $131 million drop in publishing income is due to “a $57 million charge related to the costs of the ongoing investigations […]
Modest Sales Gain For S&S As Legal Settlement Reduces Q2 Profits
CBS reported second quarter earnings after the close of the market on Thursday, with Simon & Schuster recording sales of $189 million, up 3 percent (or $6 million) as compared to a year ago. The sales increase reflected “continued growth in digital book sales, partially offset by lower print book sales.” (Close observers–like us–will note this is a subtle variation on the line that CBS has repeated three times over the past year: “strong growth in the sale of more profitable digital content was offset by lower print book sales” is what they have said in the past.) OIBDA, however, declined sharply […]
Harlequin Q2 Sales Drop Though Profits Still Gain
Harlequin’s parent company Torstar reported second quarter results Wednesday. The book publishing unit had sales of $107 million (CA), down by $3.3 million. EBITDA was up $1.8 million in the quarter at $18.99 million, which Torstar attributed to “positive year over year adjustments to returns provisions and lower promotional spending.” As in the past, the sales drop was attributed to declines in print revenues that couldn’t be offset by digital gains, though “the shift in retail sales from print to digital moderated in the second quarter.” In addition, overseas revenues dropped because of the “economic softness in Europe,” although “lower […]