John Wiley reported fiscal first quarter results, with sales of $411 million down 2 percent compared to last year and adjusted operating income dropping 23 percent to 52 cents a share. The company also took a $4.8 million restructuring charge for various discontinued operations and layoffs as part of the ongoing transition and transformation to digital. (That charge was acknowledged as on the way last quarter.) Wiley also blamed “lower revenue and higher royalty and technology costs” for the revenue declines in the quarter. In the professional/trade group, overall sales of $102 million were up 4 percent, thanks to $6 […]
Publishers
50 Shades Drives “Record Operating Profits” At Random House
As expected, sales of the 50 Shades of Grey trilogy–selling more than 30 million units in the reported period in English–powered Random House to “record operating profits” for the first six months of the year and made the book divison a standout performer for Bertelsmann as well. Random House’s sales for the reported period grew 160 million euros, or 20 percent, to €947 million for the period, and operating EBIT increased to €113 million, up 64 percent from €69 million a year ago. The company notes that “favorable currency exchange rates also contributed to its positive performance.” (The weakened euro […]
Hachette First Half Sales Flat As All Major Territories Decline
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 […]
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 […]