We were just forwarded an internal announcement that Random House is freezing all pensions at their current levels and will not give pensions to new employees hired as of January 1, and now the news is the subject of an AP story as well. The article notes that “the company will continue to offer matching funds, up to 6 percent, for 401k plans.”AP In another Random House bulletin, their Canadian division has declined to exhibit at the next Book Expo Canada. President and CEO Brad Martin said in an e-mail they “feel the show is no longer effective in helping […]
Finance
Barnes & Noble Earnings Preview, and More Financials
Shares in Barnes & Noble touched all-time lows in Tuesday’s trading with the company’s market cap below $800 million after dropping almost 6 percent–and the decline has continued in early trading today. On Thursday the retailer will report quarterly earnings. Their guidance forecast a loss of 10 cents to 15 cents a share, but analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expect a loss of 16 cents per share, on sales of $1.17 billion. BAMM reports on Friday, and Borders releases results on Tuesday, November 25 after the market closes. At current prices, the market value of Barnes & Noble, Borders, Books-a-Million […]
Redstone Has to Keep Reassuring Investors
Shares of CBS and Viacom have continued to fall recently as investors remained concerned that Sumner Redstone will be forced to sell some of his shares in order to refinance his $1.6 billion in debt. In a self-fulfilling spiral, the market worries that “further weakness would undermine Mr. Redstone’s talks with lenders and force him to sell stock in the two companies he controls.” The WSJ adds: “Redstone is expected to have to sell some assets to get bankers to agree to a restructuring. Advisers are combing through the family’s holdings to assess their value and ease of sale, according […]
Quercus Raising More Capital; Cheetham Steps Down
Shut out of traditional credit markets, Quercus is planning to raise 1.75 million pounds “in additional working capital and to strengthen its balance sheet,” nearly all of which will come from Pentland Group, which currently holds almost 20 percent of the company’s stock. Shareholders must approve a waiver from the takeover code, however, to allow Pentland to increase their stake to more than 30 percent. The thinly-traded company currently has a market cap of 3.1 million pounds, with the stock having fallen over 71 percent in a year. The immediate need is to refinance 775,000 pounds in loans that have […]
More UK Credit Insurance Worries
Credit insurance seems to be a more standard feature of doing business in the UK than it is in the US, and the FT reports on growing concerns that “the drying up of credit insurance could herald a wave of insolvencies in the troubled sector with the weakest stores and suppliers driven out of business.” Entrepreneur Luke Johnson, whose company owns Borders UK, says: “This is a lubricant that is vital for everyday transactions. I think if necessary the government should step in to replace the capacity collapse.” An anonymous executive adds: “If credit insurance gets pulled it can be […]
NY Considers Library Funding Cuts
One more story on the economy: New York’s budget division has recommended to the governor a $20 million cut in library support as part of proposed statewide reductions of expenses. That represents abou 20 percent of the currently allocated $99 million, a number already slimmed by $4 million from the 2007 allocation. The NY Library Association says the proposal “would bring library aid down to a level not seen since 1993.” Executive director Michael Borges says in a statement that “no other educational institutions have been targeted for a 20 percent cut in state funding. There seems to be no […]