McGraw-Hill reported third quarter earnings Friday morning, delayed from earlier in the week. Sales of $1.953 billion and net income from continuing operations of $379 million both grew, driven by increases at S&P, while the company took a $99 million charge due to the upcoming separation of their education unit. (“Approximately half” of that was attributed to actual restructuring; the rest was professional fees.) But sales fell 11 percent at the education division, to $836 million, while net profit, at $268 million, dropped 15 percent. McGraw-Hill attributed at least a third of the revenue decline to “deferred revenue associated with the migration to […]
Publishers
Results Decline at Quarto
In the UK, as Quarto prepares for their special shareholders meeting next week with chairman Laurence Orbach’s board seat on the line, the company issued a short trading update on their third quarter. In classic British style, they don’t report directly on the quarter itself but rather update result for the past 9 months. Add a little arithmetic and you see that sales of $54 million fell $4.2 million in the quarter, down 7 percent, and EBITDA fell to $10.5 million in “subdued trading” that saw “some improvement in September.” They say the weak spot was their “home improvement and […]
Harlequin Sales and Profits Fall Again, Blaming 50 Shades of Grey
Harlequin’s parent company Torstar reported third quarter results Wednesday. The book publishing unit had sales of $107.8 million (CA), down by $7.9 million (including $1.9 million in foreign exchange impact.) EBITDA was down $5 million in the quarter at $19.8 million, which Torstar attributed to “revenue declines in most markets and increased costs in the North American digital business.” Harlequin also incurred a $500,000 restructuring charge so far in 2012 and has laid off 8 people. 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 […]
Penguin Sales Are Down Slightly for The Year
Separate from news of the planned joint venture with Bertelsmann, Pearson issued a brief update on their third quarter results on Monday morning. Companywide sales rose 5 percent in the first nine months of the year (they were up 7 percent at the halfway mark), and operating profit was down 5 percent, “reflecting the sale of FTSE in 2011, acquisition integration costs and continued weakness in UK professional training.” At Penguin, sales are down 1 percent on a currency-neutral basis, and 2 percent on an underlying basis (taking out both currency changes and portfolio changes). That’s a modest improvement from the […]
Profit Declines at Bloomsbury, As Digital Comprises 15% of Adult Division Sales
Bloomsbury reported results for the six months ending August 31, with continuing pre-tax profits falling 40 percent to £0.9 million, even as sales rose 2 percent to £43.5 million. With recent acquisitions the academic and professional division now comprises 28 percent of company sales, though “academic sales peak at the beginning of the academic year, in September and October.” Sales at the adult division were flat (and down 5 percent before acquisitions), while children’s and educational sales fell 23 percent and operating profit in that segment disappeared, blamed on the comparison to last year’s Harry Potter sales tying in to […]
Perseus Celebrates Successful Year
Perseus Books Group ceo David Steinberger wrote to the company’s 675 employees today to report on their most recent fiscal year (which ended June 30). He writes: “It was an extraordinary year, not just for the seemingly countless award winners and bestsellers we published and distributed and not just for beating our budget goals and delivering strong financial results, but also for the investments we continue to make in our future and the progress we are making in transforming The Perseus Books Group into a new kind of publishing and services company well positioned to thrive in the emerging digital […]