After completing a year in which revenue rose 4.4%, John Wiley CEO Will Pesce told analysts in a conference call discussing year-end results that he expects sales improvements in fiscal 2011 to be "clustered" more in its three groups than in fiscal 2010 when sales in the higher education division rose 18%, while STMS revenue rose less than 2%. Pesce expects Wiley to outperform the higher education market in the new year, but will not likely post the large gains it did in 2010.

Digital growth continued to play an important part in all Wiley businesses. The company invested more than $100 million in technology initiatives in fiscal 2010 and will continue to invest in technology, Pesce said. With its strong cash position, strategic acquisitions "have risen up in priority," said CFO Ellis Cousins, noting that acquisitions could come in not only content companies but other companies that can help Wiley move its digital business forward.

In Wiley's professional/trade segment, digital revenue totaled $36 million, with $7 million coming from e-books, an increase of 93%. In addition to e-books, Wiley generated digital sales from branded Web site advertising and online books and journals. To enhance its digital sales, Wiley has signed with Apple to make titles available for the iPad, and it expects to have its titles in the iBookstore "very soon," a spokesperson said. Overall, growth in the professional/trade division was led by North America, particularly in its consumer category, which benefitted from taking over the Meredith book line and an agreement with GMAC.

In other digital highlights from fiscal 2010, in the higher education group, nearly 30% of sales in the U.S. came from products other than traditional textbooks. Revenue in the segment included sales of$61 million from e-books, digital content, WileyPLUS (which had revenues of $31 million), CustomSelect, and binder editions. In the STMS segment, online book revenue rose 44%, to$6 million, as more library customers buy digital books individually or through subscriptions. Late in July, Wiley will replace Wiley InterScience with the Wiley Online Library which will provide access to over 4 million articles.

John Wiley Results 2009-2010

($ in millions)
Segment 2009 2010 % Change
Scientific/Technical/ $969.2 $986.7 1.8%
Medical/Scholarly
Professional/Trade 403.1 430.0 6.7
Higher Education 239.1 282.4 18.0
Total 1,611.4 1,699.1 4.4
Net income 128.3 143.5 11.8