Quarto reported preliminary earnings for the full fiscal year on Tuesday, with sales of $186.1 million up 5.5 percent, helped by “two small acquisitions” during the year, and pre-tax profit of $12.1 million was up 5.2 percent. Digital sales grew fivefold, but still comprise only $2.1 million of sales, or about 1 percent of sales, noted in the release “to satisfy the curiosity of analysts and commentators.” Often mentioned as a potential acquirer of other houses, including the current Sterling Publishing offer, Quarto’s net debt also rose–up 14 percent, to $81.4 million, including the cost of acquiring Cool Springs Press […]
Publishers
S&S Registers Eighth Consecutive Profit Increase Even As Sales Wane
CBS reported fourth quarter earnings after the close of the market on Tuesday, with Simon & Schuster recording a 1 percent decrease in sales, down $3 million to $229 million, accompanied by a sharp increase in profits. Adjusted OIBDA rose $8 million (or 40 percent) to $28 million, and adjusted operating income rose $9 million, at $27 million. That’s a 12 percent margin for the quarter, and the company recorded an 11 percent profit margin for the full fiscal year. S&S took a $2 million restructuring charge during the fourth quarter not charged against OIBDA, related to the realignments in […]
More Briefs: Profits Slide At Bertelsmann, Glad Day Bookshop Finds Buyers
Bertelsmann released preliminary, topline figures for 2011, with their full report due on March 28. Sales from continuing operations nudged up 1 percent, to €15.3 billion, while operating EBIT fell roughly 5 percent, to €1.7 billion. Positive indicators included “rapidly growing e-book sales.” Toronto’s LGBTQ Glad Day Bookshop has secured a future for itself, with news that a group of local supporters have joined together to buy the store. High school teacher Michael Erickson, who led the group of buyers, says that “as individuals, none of us are rich. But collectively, there will be over 20 of us in the […]
Harper Results Are Soft In the US, Strong In the UK, As eBooks Stay At 10% Worldwide
News Corp. reported second quarter sales after the close of the market Wednesday. As in the past, the performance of HarperCollins is too modest to merit any mention in the earnings release. In the publishing segment, focused on newspapers, sales fell 9 percent and operating income dropped by 43 percent, blamed on “lower advertising revenues at the Australian newspapers and the integrated marketing services business” as well as the closure of The News of the World. In a brief statement, Harper said their best-performing units were Harper UK (publisher there of George R.R. Martin’s Game of Thrones books) and Zondervan […]
HBG USA Rises, As Hachette UK Struggles
Hachette Book Group USA had a sharp turnaround in the fourth quarter, with sales rising 12.8 percent (after falling 8 percent in the prior quarter), riding a “powerful performance” and an easier comparison to a year ago, when Stephenie Meyer sales had declined. But Hachette UK continues to struggle, down 4.5 percent for the fourth quarter (after falling 10 percent in the third quarter). The company blamed “tougher international market conditions (REDgroup’s bankruptcy in Australia),” even with UK rights to the Steve Jobs biography. Lagardere’s publishing division reported overall fourth quarter sales of 537 million euros, down 3.4 percent overall […]
Except for $76 Million In Charges to Fire 800 People, McGraw-Hill Ends 2011 On A Positive Note
McGraw Hill reported fourth quarter earnings Tuesday morning, with an abundance of measures of adjusted, diluted, continuing operations that seem designed to conjure victory from accounting and confuse reporters. The big excluded items are a $66 million restructuring charge related to severance for about 800 employees laid off during the quarter and another $10 million in “one-time separation expenses necessary to complete” the plan to split the company in half by the end of the new year. Adjusted net income from continuing operations–the measure Wall Street will look to, apparently (and one that excludes the $76 million in charges)–was $184 million, up […]