PPR Group, the parent of France’s largest bookselling chain Fnac, reported 2012 financial results. Fnac’s story has been similar to that of big booksellers in other major territories–sales have declined (though they are still substantial, in the billions of euros) and margins have fallen as well, and the owners have been looking for someone else to take over. Last year PPR tried to sell Fnac and following what the FT called “a dearth of buyers,” they decided to spin Fnac off as a separate, standalone public company. That plan will be presented to shareholders for approval at their annual meeting […]
International News
Germany Investigates Working Conditions of Temporary Amazon Employees; UK’s Daunt Returns to Criticizing His eBook Partner As “Job Destroyer”
Working conditions at Amazon’s seven distribution facilities in Germany has been in the spotlight since a German TV documentary investigation aired last week. The show focused on the treatment of temporary holiday workers–who are citizens of other European countries–and cited harsh practices from black-uniformed guards employed by security sub-contractor Hensel European Security Services (hired on Amazon’s behalf by an employment agency, the BBC says). Germany’s Deutsche Welle explains, “Instead of being employed by Amazon, as initially promised, the workers are employed by a temp agency, which normally means lower wages. While working, the temp workers are subjected to strict observation […]
People, Etc.
Mary Ann Naples is returning to book publishing as publisher of Rodale Books, starting March 4, following detours to OpenSky and then, briefly, Zola Books (as head of business development; she will now join Zola’s strategic advisory board.) Naples had been a co-founder of literary agency The Creative Culture after working at Hyperion. Jim Hanas will join HarperCollins as director of audience development, reporting to cmo Angela Tribelli. Previously he was social media editor at the New York Observer. In the UK, Harper is once again reshuffling and rebranding imprints, consolidating their nonfiction lines. Harper Press and parts of Collins are […]
Canada’s D&M Sold to Harbour Publishing Owners
Bankrupt Canadian publisher D&M has agreed to sell the assets of their flagship imprint, Douglas & McIntyre to Howard and Mary White, the owners of Harbour Publishing. The sale includes all books contracted or published under the Douglas & McIntyre imprint, with a list of approximately 500 titles. Howard White tells the National Post he believes “there is more life in this beast than people thought.” Scott McIntyre says in the announcement, “The successful conclusion of first the Greystone and now the Douglas & McIntyre asset sales confirms that the quality imprints of D&M are on a solid new path for the […]
Indigo Sales Decline On Fewer eReaders and Lack of Hits
Canada’s dominant bookseller Indigo reported a 4.9 percent decrease in sales of $335.6 million for the fiscal third quarter ending December 29. With echoes of Barnes & Noble’s holiday report, “the decrease was primarily driven by lower ereader revenues compared to last year,” along with a “lack of hit book titles in the quarter” and a reduction of their smaller-format stores by 8 locations. Superstore sales comps were down 5 percent, and small-format store comps fell 5.2 percent, though online sales increased 3.6 percent. EBITDA declined over 15 percent for the period, to $36 million. Their nonbook merchandise continues to expand: […]
Waterstones’ First Year Under New Management Shows Big Losses
Fretting about the state of Barnes & Noble’s bookstores is put into perspective by reports from the UK on the performance of Waterstone’s. A government corporate filing showed just how badly the chain had been suffering. It’s important to underscore that the results everyone is writing about are old–they cover the fiscal year ending almost a year ago, in April 2012. The bookseller had a £25.4 million operating loss, and a £37.3 million after-tax loss. Sales fell 14 percent, down to £410.4 million, and same-store sales dropped 11.1 percent. Managing director James Daunt blamed the result on “what I inherited…. […]