Revenue at John Wiley rose to $477 million in the second quarter ended October 31, 2014, from $449 million in the comparable period in 2013. Net income jumped 49%, to $53.8 million. The company also released more details about plans to reorganize its Research business, which has the goal of putting the focus on managing Wiley’s portfolio of journal-related products and services.
As part of the restructuring, the books-related portion of Research “will be managed toward increasing operating synergies with the Professional Development books business,” Wiley said. To account for the reorganization, Wiley will take an $18 million restructuring charge in the third quarter with about half allocated toward severance and other costs associated with consolidating the book business with the remaining related to earlier restructuring efforts.
Total sales in the Research segment revenue rose 5% in the quarter, to $264.8 million, but print book sales fell 14%, to $26.8 million, while sales of digital books increased 6%, to just under $10 million. Journal revenue rose 9% to $109.8 million. In the Professional Development segment, revenue rose 14%, to $105.7 million, benefiting from the purchase of CrossKnowledge; excluding the acquisition, revenue fell 4% compared to last year’s second quarter with sales of print books falling 12%, to $52.7 million. Sales of digital book rose 3%, to $14.5 million.
In Wiley’s Education group, sales increased 3%, to $106.5 million, with double-digit growth in custom products, course workflow solutions, and education services offsetting a 7% revenue decline in books.
For the first half of fiscal 2015, total revenue was up 6.3%, to $914.9 million, and net income rose to $87.4 million from $72.1 million in the first six months of fiscal 2014. The company said it still expects “mid-single digit revenue growth” for the full fiscal year.
