As of the beginning of 2010, Hachette Book Group will expand its Canadian sales and distribution, launched this year, to handle titles from Hachette UK in Canada. (Sales are actually handled out of New York, where a dedicated sales person will be added, and fulfilled through the company’s warehouse in Indiana.) Publicity and marketing for the UK titles will be handled by HBG Canada, with a new dedicated marketeer and publicist to be hired in Toronto. Most Hachette UK titles are currently represented to the Canadian trade and media by McArthur & Co., with distribution by Harper Canada, though Little […]
International News
Harlequin Remains Bright Spot for Torstar
While Torstar’s newspaper business suffers heavily from the advertising slump, sales at the company’s Torstar unit have remained strong, boosted further by the weak Canadian dollar. “Harlequin’s revenues, to date, have not been significantly affected by the global, and in particular, the US economic situation,” the company said. First quarter sales of $124.5 million (CA) were up $14.8 million from a year ago, or 13.5 percent, though $11.5 million of the increase was due to foreign exchange. EBITDA of $21.8 million was up almost 18 percent, from $18.5 million a year ago. The unit took a $1.4 million charge related […]
Corporate News: Pearson Still Expects "Tough Market Conditions"; Informa Adjusts; Waterstone's Cuts Deeper than Expected
Pearson offered a first quarter interim statement, reaffirming their expectations from early March when they reported full-year results. “For 2009 as a whole, we expect tough market conditions for US School publishing, financial advertising and the consumer books industry…. At Penguin, we continue to see challenging trading conditions for book publishers and booksellers. Demand for new fiction and non-fiction is generally good and growth in digital formats is very strong, but illustrated reference and travel categories are weak.” Release Informa is selling extra shares to raise 242 million pounds in order to cut its debt. The stock rose sharply, interpreted […]
Comp Sales Off 4.5% at Waterstone's
Following the reported drops at WH Smith earlier this month, Waterstone’s parent HMV has reported that same-store sales declined by 4.5 percent in the last 16 weeks of their fiscal year, ending, April 25 (and 3.5 percent overall in that period.) For the full year, both comp sales and overall sales fell 3.8 percent at the bookseller. The company did not report actual sales today, but Waterstone’s has sales of 564 million pounds last year, so presumably this year’s sales are approximately 542.6 million pounds. The Bookseller says that layoffs have been discussed at the store level in recent weeks, […]
People
Kirsten Neuhaus has started her own agency, Kirsten Neuhaus Literary. She was most recently an agent and foreign rights manager at Vigliano Associates. Following the elimination of the Collins division in the US, now its predecessor in the UK is also being demoted. Harper UK will merge Collins with their Harper Non-fiction books, consolidated under managing director Belinda Budge. Collins publishing director Denise Bates will leave Harper UK in July, and Collins’ head Katie Fulford returns to her previous role as special projects director. Ebury senior publishing director Hannah MacDonald will move over in July to run the Collins imprint, […]
Sales Off at WH Smith; New Betrams Owner Reports
High-street sales fell 6 percent at WH Smith in the first half of their fiscal year, at 522 million pounds, and profits of 47 million pounds declined by the same percentage. Same-store book sales declined less, at 3 percent, and the company says “we saw further good share performance versus the general high street with strong market shares in kids books…and celebrity autobiographies.” They add that “we increased the focus on kids books with major range reviews leading to wider ranges being introduced in areas such as picture books.” Smith release The new owners of UK wholesaler Bertrams also reported […]