Benefiting from a 24% increase in sales in its publishing division to $39.4 million, Thomas Nelson reported a 5.6% gain in total revenues to $59.1 million for the first quarter ended June 30, 1999. Net income moved ahead nearly 10% to $1.4 million. According to Nelson, sales in the publishing unit were led by Frank Peretti's The Visitation, which became an instant bestseller during the first quarter.
The strong performance in the publishing division offset weak results in the gift unit, where sales fell 18.6% to $19.7 million. The decline was attributed mainly to a restructuring of the unit's field sales force. In addition, last year's first quarter benefited from a special program with a major customer that was not repeated in the first period of fiscal 2000. Nelson chairman Sam More said that given "a normal order pattern for the year as a whole and the successful reinvigoration of our sales force, we expect the gift division results to improve as the year progresses." To help boost sales in the division, Nelson recently acquired Ceres Candles.
