Meanwhile, the surprise bankruptcy filing came yesterday from Canada, where the country’s largest distributor HB Fenn & Company initiated bankruptcy proceedings under the country’s Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act. In a brief statement Fenn said it had “encountered significant financial challenges due to the loss of distribution lines, shrinking margins and the significant shift to e-books, all of which have significantly reduced the company’s revenues.” The company’s Lisa Winstanley told the National Post more bluntly, “we’re ceasing operations effective immediately.” The paper calls it “the largest collapse of a Canadian publishing company since General Distribution Services/Stoddart Publishing went under in August […]
Canada
Currency Helps/Hurts Indigo
Reporting results for their fiscal third quarter, ending right after Chrismas, Canada’s dominant bookseller Indigo recorded sales of $330 million, up $7.4 million from a year ago. The Indigo and Chapters superstores rose 2.2 percent on a same-store basis, while the small format Coles store comps rose 3.2 percent. Online sales fell 2.6 percent to $30 million. The plunging Canadian dollar helped sales themselves hold up, but it hurt the company’s margins. Pre-tax earnings fell 3.6 percent to $40.1 million, while net income dropped considerably at $26.8 million, down from $49.2 million last year due to various tax line items. […]
Smaller Publishers to Skip BEC, Too
Following the withdrawal of Canadian units of Random House, Penguin and HarperCollins from the Book Expo Canada trade show, other publishers are announcing that they too will skip the show this year. Scholastic Canada, H.B. Fenn and Company, and DK/Tourmaline tell Quill & Quire they will not exhibit. Executive director of the Association of Canadian Publishers Carolyn Wood says, “I won’t write it off yet, but I won’t bet any big money on seeing a trade show this year.”Q&Q
More Withdrawals from Book Expo Canada
HarperCollins Canada and Penguin Canada have joined Random House Canada in announcing that they will not exhibit at this year’s Book Expo Canada trade show. Simon & Schuster Canada is the only one of the country’s four largest publishers that has said it will participate, though president Kevin Hanson indicates their involvement will be modest. The Globe and Mail writes: “Are booksellers in Vancouver or Edmonton or Halifax going to commit to coming to Toronto knowing that three former anchor tenants won’t be there? And will other small or medium-sized publishers bow out now that the lure of the big guys […]
No More Multiple Offers from Random House Canada Imprints
Quill & Quire says that “Random House of Canada will no longer allow its individual imprints – namely Random House Canada, Knopf Canada, and Doubleday Canada – to make offers on the same titles.” Now “only one division will be given the go-ahead to pursue a book.” RH Canada president Brad Martin says he will be joined by executive publisher of Knopf Canada Louise Dennys and Doubleday Canada publisher Maya Mavjee on a committee that will decide which imprint gets to bid based on “who needs [the book], who wants it, and who can bring the best possible focus to […]
Canada's Thomas Allen Postpones Spring Until Fall
Similar to the recent move by Atlas & Co., Canada’s Thomas Allen Publishers is “postponing” most of their planned spring 2009 releases until the fall. The company “generally releases only 10 to 12 books per year,” the National Post notes. President Jim Allen says, “We are postponing a few of our spring titles due to the fact that we’re not ready to publish them. This happens from time to time in book publishing for a variety or reasons, and given the literary nature of our list and the economic climate we’re in, we have to be absolutely certain that we […]