Saraiva is a leading publisher and bookseller in Brazil, offering a complete catalogue of elementary and high school textbooks, readers, law books, business administration, economics, business literature, and accounting books. The company claims a domesitc market share of 15% in professional and technical books and 16% in textbooks.
The retail branch of Saraiva is the largest bookstore chain in Brazil with 106 stores. It has pioneered in the super store concept in Brazil, with a product mix of books, CDs, DVDs, stationery, periodicals, and information technology. With its internet platform Saraiva.com.br, Saraiva operates one of the country’s largest online bookstores which is integrated with the brick-and-mortar stores yet offers a larger mix of products.
Saraiva was founded in 1914 by Joaquim Ignácio da Fonseca Saraiva, who had already worked in a bookstore in Porto, the “Biblioteca do Cura da Aldeia” (the Bookstore of the Village’s Priest). In 1947, following a sequence of editional successes, the company became a limited liability corporation, with the name of Saraiva S.A. – Livreiros Editores.
In 1994, reaffirming its pioneering reputation with legal publications, Saraiva released the “LIS – Legislação Informatizada Saraiva” (Saraiva Computerized Legislation), a database in CD-ROM format containing federal legislation that is equivalent to 40 printed volumes. Editora Saraiva proceeds to publish paradidactic books, complementary educational works for diverse subjects that compose lower, middle and high school education.
In 2000, Saraiva launched its ecommerce platform. In 2007, Saraiva acquired the educational publisher Pigmento Editorial S.A, and Siciliano S.A. in 2008. On November 30, 2008, the holding company Livraria Saraiva was incorporated by the controlled company Siciliano. This reverse incorporation resulted in the creation of a new company, Saraiva e Siciliano.
Key Company Developments 2013
Financial:
In 2012, Saraiva Group showed a growth of 2% in net revenue to 1.9 billion BRL, followed by 12% in the first quarter of 2013, boosted by the overall development of the Brazilian economy and the successful participation in the National Textbook Program. Saraiva's contract to supply books to public elementary and high schools amounts to 131 million BRL, a growth of 48.7% in comparable programs.
In the Private Teaching System Division, the number of enrolled students grew by 46%.
Overall net revenue grew from 1.09 billion BRL in 2008 continually to its level of 1.92 billion BRL in 2012. The publishing division accounted for 22% of revenue, yet 45% of the consolidated EBITDA.
Ownership, Mergers & Acquisition, Internal Organization:
Investments in new textbook collections for elementary and high school students enabled Editora to grab a significant share in the National Textbook Program with a total contract for the supply of books to public elementary and high schools amounting to 131 million BRL.
Since 2009, Editora sells complete solutions in the Teaching System format for the private network in all educational segments, from child education to the pre-university entrance exam level.
In October 2012, Saraiva and Hoper Educação launched the Saraiva Learning Solution (SSA). SSA has been available to the university market for law and business administration courses and is made up of a solution which combines Editora Saraiva´s broad catalog for these courses with Hoper Educação's methodology.
International:
n/a
Digital:
Saraiva Editora continued to invest in multimedia solutions for elementary and high schools by offering digital educational content and assessment tools that, together with the printed media, add value to traditional teaching-learning methods, notably the Saraiva Conecte collection, a platform that integrates physical media and digital content to provide a complete solution for high school students and Jornadas for middle school.
Bestselling Authors & Titles:
n/a
Key points for analysis & conclusions:
n/a
Earlier Developments:
The Company´s revenues fluctuates year-on-year according to this Federal Government purchase cycle. In 2012, the Government purchased books for students enrolled in public schools from 1st to 5th grades (Saraiva´s market share was around 10%, which yielded a 130.1 million BRL contract). In 2010, the Government purchased books for public school students enrolled from 1st to 5th grades (Saraiva´s market share was around 12%, resulting in a 88 million BRL contract).
2012 has again seen significant growth, driven by successful the diversification of operations and consistent results in relation to generation of value, contributing to an increase in net income of 18.6%.The success of the strategy for improving returns in retail was reflected by an increase of 29.3% in EBITDA which reached 100.4 million and 1.3 b.p. growth in EBITDA margin.
The Retail operation had revenues of 1.5 billion BRL in 2012 (up from 66.9 million BRL in 2011 and 312 million BRL in 2010).
Click here to return to the full listing of the world's largest publishers.
