Sales at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt’s trade segment rose 1.5% in the third quarter of 2014 compared to the same period last year, rising to $46.5 million. Adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, depreciation and amortization), however, dropped 16.3% to $7.2 million.
The increase in revenue was due to strong sales of The Giver, which benefited from the release of the film by the same name, and higher frontlist sales led by What if?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions. The drop in EBITDA was attributed to a higher reserve for returns plus higher royalty costs.
For the first nine months of the 2014, revenue was off 7.4%, to $115.6 million, and EBITDA was down 60%, to $7.8 million.
In HMH’s much larger education segment, revenue in the quarter was flat at $505 million while EBITDA rose 6.7%, to $131.5 million.
