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Good First Quarter for HBG
Hachette Book Group sales increased 9.1% in the quarter ended March 31, 2021, over last year's comparable quarter. Sales at all of Lagardère Publishing increased 11.6%.
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Book Biz Closes Out an Unexpected 2020
Profits rose at five big trade publishers in an unprecedented year.
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PRH Worldwide Revenue Hit $4.4 Billion in 2020
Driven by strong sales in the U.S. in 2020, revenue at Penguin Random House increased 4.6% over 2019, while profits jumped 23%. The U.S. accounted for 58% of worldwide sales, up from 56% in 2019.
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Bloomsbury Lifts Forecast for Fiscal 2021
Citing continuing strong demand for books in February, Bloomsbury Publishing said it expects sales for the fiscal year ended February 28, 2021, to be above current market expectations and profits to be "significantly" ahead of previous forecasts.
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Quarto Profits Rose in 2020 Despite Sales Decline
The decision to focus its 2020 list on books that could perform well online, in nontraditional outlets, and in digital formats led to a 6% increase in operating profits at Quarto last year, while revenue declined 7%, to $126.9 million.
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Scholastic Book Fairs Have Another Tough Quarter
Sales in Scholastic's book fairs fell 73% in the third quarter compared to a year ago, contributing to a 26% decline in overall revenue.
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Regnery Revenue Fell in 2020
A good fourth quarter was not enough to offset a first half sales slump at Regnery. The publisher has set a 75,000-copy first printing for Josh Hawley's 'The Tyranny of Big Tech,' which will be published on May 4.
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Barnes & Noble Education Sees More Losses in Q3
Sales at Barnes & Noble Education continue to be hit by the pandemic, with sales for the third quarter ended December 31, 2020, down 18.1% compared to the previous year. Retail sales declined 15.1%.
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Pearson Touts Future as Learning Company
Pearson earned £531 million from the sale of its 25% stake in PRH to Bertelsmann last year. Moving forward, chief executive Andy Bird said, "We exist to help everyone achieve their potential through learning."
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Wiley Revenue Rose 3% in Q3
John Wiley's financial performance in the third quarter ended January 31, 2021, was strong enough for the company to raise sales and earnings estimates for the fiscal year ending April 30.
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HBG Sales Up 3.9% in Sluggish Year for Hachette Livre
Revenue at Lagardère's Hachette Livre slipped 0.4% last year, to €2.37 billion, from €2.38 billion in 2019. Earnings, however, rose 11.8%, to €246 million. Sales at Hachette Book Group rose 3.9% over 2019.
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Restructuring, Covid-19 Leads to Huge HMH Loss
Restructuring charges and the global pandemic took a toll on Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in 2020, as the company reported a 25.8% decline in revenue in the year and a net loss of $480 million, compared to a loss of $213.8 million in 2019. HMH's trade division, which is for sale, had a 6% sales gain.
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Trade Publishing Segment Shines in a Flat 2020
Total industry sales rose 0.1% in 2020 compared to 2019 based on year-end figures supplied by 1,354 publishers to AAP’s StatShot program. The two major trade categories had solid gains in the year while the two big educational segments had declines.
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S&S Posts Double-Digit Gains in Sales, Earnings in 2020
Sparked by a strong fourth quarter, Simon & Schuster finished 2020 with both sales and earnings up about 11% over 2019. A slew of adult nonfiction hits helped to drive the gains.
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Revenue at Reed Exhibitions Sank 71% Last Year
The company behind the London Book Fair, the “retired” BookExpo, and other publishing-adjacent events saw revenue plunge by 71% in 2020 compared to 2019. Reed said that, due to the pandemic, it is managing its 2021 event schedule “flexibly.”
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HarperCollins Has Historic Quarter
In the quarter ended December 31, sales rose 23% at HarperCollins over the comparable period a year ago, and earnings soared 65%. Susan Panuccio, CFO of HC parent company News Corp, said the second period results marked the best quarterly performance in HC's history.
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Trade Publishing Sales Had Big November
Helped by the November release of the blockbuster 'A Promised Land,' sales of adult trade titles jumped 35.4% in November over a year ago and sales in the children/young adult category rose 30.7%.
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Foundry Literary's Cofounder Files Suit Against Former Partner
Peter McGuigan, the cofounder of Foundry Literary + Media, filed a lawsuit against his former business partner, Yfat Reiss Gendell, on Friday. The suit claims that Gendell made illegal withdrawals of more than $860,000 from the former partners' literary agency.
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Sales, Earnings Soared at EDC in Q3
Revenue in Educational Development Corp.'s direct sales division jumped 68.4% in the third quarter ended November 30, 2020, leading to a 63.5% increase in total sales for the publisher. Net income rose 63.5% over last year's third quarter.
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Authors Seek Missing Payments from Shuttered Literary Agency
When the former cofounders of Foundry Literary + Media parted ways in September to launch their own literary agencies, the partners confirmed that thousands of contracts would still be handled by Foundry. It appears that payments to some authors with contracts residing at Foundry have not been going out.