Sales at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt jumped 25% in 2021 over 2020, rising to $1.05 billion, from $840 million in 2020. Sales in 2020 were hurt by the pandemic, which led to lower spending on K-12 instructional materials across the nation. The $1 billion in 2021 revenue was slightly below the $1.21 billion in sales HMH’s educational publishing group generated in 2019.
Net income in the year was $213 million compared to a loss of $479 million in 2020, a figure that included a one-time charge of $279 million.
The strong gains in 2021 were led by HMH’s Heinemann brand, which had a 31% revenue increase, to $501 million. HMH said increases came across all of Heinemann’s intervention and supplemental products, as well as professional services products. Sales in it core textbook group rose 20%, to $550 million.
The figures do not include results from the trade group, which HMH sold to HarperCollins last year.
On Tuesday, HMH agreed to by acquired by the private equity firm Veritas Capital in a deal worth $2.8 million. The acquisition is expected to be closed in the second quarter.
