CBS reported first quarter earnings after the close of the market on Tuesday, with Simon & Schuster recording strong results: sales rose 14 percent, up $21 million to $176 million. It’s a quarter with traditionally thin margins, but OIBDA rose as well, up $3 million to $10 million, with operating income of $8 million, as gains in content sales were “partially offset by higher costs related to legal matters”–which presumably means the settlement discussions with the Department of Justice and state attorneys general. Since those settlements have not been finalized, there is no larger charge against earnings declared yet for the […]
Publishers
Corporate: Scholastic Expect More Earnings Thanks to Hunger Games Sales; Secound Round Bids for Flammarion
Scholastic significantly increased its earnings guidance for fiscal 2012, which ends on May 31, to exceed $3.40 a share, “based on stronger than anticipated sales of The Hunger Games trilogy following the March 23 movie release.” Previously, the company projected annual earnings of between $2.60 to $2.90 per diluted share, while the company’s prior guidance for revenue and free cash flow remains unchanged. The sale process for French publisher Flammarion by its Italian owner RCS Media continues, with a number of reports indicating that five publishers have submitted second-round bids starting at 300 million euros. France’s Actes Sud and Albin […]
First Quarter Sales Rise Modestly at Penguin; Promises “Robust Defense” Against DOJ
Pearson issued a brief first quarter trading update, in advance of their annual meeting. Sales rose 3 percent overall in the period, at £1.16 billion, up 11 percent on a constant-exchange-rate basis. The company expects profits in the first half of this fiscal year to be lower than a year, with income “heavily weighted to the second half” and comparisons that include the previous sale of their stake in FTSE International. They expect Penguin to “perform in line with its industry this year” (which usually means low growth). The unit “will benefit from its consistently strong publishing schedule, which is […]
McGraw-Hill Says They Are On Track To Spin Off Education Unit By Year’s End
McGraw-Hill reported first quarter earnings Tuesday morning, with some small updates on the company’s plan to spin off the education unit and save approximately $100 million in costs by the end of the year. The IRS is reported to have agreed to tax-free status for the spinoff, and McGraw-Hill will officially file certain details of the plan “in the coming weeks.” Adjusted net income from continuing operations–the measure the company would like Wall Street to focus on (which excludes one-time charges of about $33 million relating to the spinoff)–was $144 million, up 19 percent and ahead of estimates. Sales rose […]
Sales Fall Again At Courier’s Publishing Unit, With Signs of Rebound at Dover
Courier reported fiscal second quarter sales, with their publishing division declining 5 percent to $9.6 million. They had an operating loss of $1.1 million, but that’s an improvement over a loss of $2 million this time last year, when they took a $750,000 bad-debt charge due to the Borders bankruptcy. Their REA test-prep business was the only profitable unit during the quarter, even though sales fell 5 percent. And online sales helped Dover revenues increase 5 percent in the period. Creative Homeowner continues its sharp decline, with sales down 34 percent. Among new initiatives, they are planning a spring launch […]
Random House Profit Increases as Bertelsmann Plans To Reshape Company In Next 5-10 Years
Bertelsmann released its full-year earnings statement for 2011, and for Random House the numbers correspond to the trend at other large houses: Revenue fell €79 million or 4.3 percent to €1.749 billion compared to last year, while EBIT rose 6.9 percent to €185 million, compared to €173 million the previous year. The company also recorded “record triple-digital-percentage” digital revenue growth and a “surging demand” for Random House ebooks helped by the “increasing availability of lower-priced e-reading devices and tablets” that offset declines in print sales. (2011 was also the year Random House switched to agency model pricing in the US.) […]