WH Smith issued a brief trading update for the 14 weeks ending June 5. With the UK book market in general decline, their High Street stores declined 4 percent on a like-for-like basis compared to a year ago. Their travel stores were also down 4 percent overall, which they somehow parsed into 2 percent regular decline and 2 percent volcanic ash decline.
Finance
Borders: Two Heads Are Better Than One
Borders ceo search is over as the company awards the title to two men. Bennet LeBow further confirmed the extent to which he has taken over the company by making himself chief executive officer of Borders Group as well as chairman of its board. Interim ceo Mike Edwards will stay on as well, keeping the titles of president and ceo of Borders, Inc. running the US bookselling business and reporting to LeBow. Edwards joined Borders last September. He tells Reuters, “Ben has a very sound financial background, understands capital markets, is very astute in managing liquidity in turnaround situations and […]
Financials: $4 Mil for Open Road; $10 Mil for BookRenter; An IPO for Nielsen
Open Road Integrated Media has received a second round of funding, getting another $4 million from Kohlberg Ventures, which also provided the start-up’s original $3 million in capital. Jim Kohlberg at Kohlberg Ventures says in the announcement “with the convergence of expanding device options and the rapid adoption of ebooks, we strongly believe that the Open Road model and its team are uniquely positioned to succeed in the marketplace. We are pleased to continue our support through additional funding.” BookRenter has collected even more, raising $10 million in their latest financing, led by Norwest Venture Partners, with follow-on investments from […]
Aletheia Whittles BN Stake
Aletheia Research & Management told the SEC that over the past two months they have slightly reduced their overall Barnes & Noble holdings, to 9,373,192 shares, comprising 16.28 percent of all shares. Previously their stake stood at 17.44 percent. The filing reveals a series of both sales and purchases–sometimes both on the same trading day.
Borders' Next Ideas? Lease Buyouts, Less Stealing, Still Reinventing the Supply Chain
After yet another quarter of disappointing results, Borders cfo Mark Bierley took the lead in the company’s conference call in explaining their latest strategy towards “improving profitability” (which begs the question of how you can improve something that doesn’t exist). Since “a number of stores are dilutive to our EBITDA” they “intend to aggressively pursue lease buyouts from these stores. The buyout on these leases would, based on our assumptions, positively impact our long-term bottom line.” They also have a “comprehensive audit program” that’s “designed to reduce” losses from shoplifting, particularly in “stores that have historically seen high levels of […]
Borders Finds Their Extra $25 Million In Financing As LeBow All But Takes Over
When Borders refinanced their revolving credit agreement in March and lined up a new $90 million term loan (at minimum interest of 14.75 percent), they were required to raise at least $25 million in new equity or else that term loan would have its borrowing base reduced by $10 million. This morning the company announced that financier Bennett LeBow, formerly known as as a “corporate raider” and currently chairman of holding company Vector Group, principally a tobacco company with other interests including Douglas Elliman real estate, has purchased $25 million of stock at $2.25 a share through an investment company. […]