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Simon & Schuster Results Up, Digital Doubles
With digital content generating 18% of total revenue in the first quarter of 2011, Simon & Schuster reported that profits more than doubled and sales rose 2% to $155 million.
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Digital Sales Offset Print Declines at Harlequin
First quarter sales at Harlequin rose 2.3%, to C$115.4 million, and operating profit declined from C$23 million in last year’s first period to C$22 million in the most recent quarter. Sales and earnings were both negatively impacted by the strong Canadian dollar and parent company Torstar noted that excluding the impact of foreign exchange Harlequin's sales increased by C$8 million and operating profit by C$1.9 million. Torstar said Harlequin had a solid start.
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Despite E-book Boom Lagardere Publishing Sales Fall
Sales at Lagardere Publishing fell approximately 10% in the first quarter to 390 million euros. The company attributed the decline to tough comparisons to last year’s first quarter in which the Twilight Saga titles were still experiencing strong sales, particularly in the U.S. Somewhat offsetting the decline of Twilight in Lagardere’s U.S. subsidiary, Hachette Book Group, was an 88% rise in e-book sales and e-book sales accounted for 22% of revenue at HBG in the quarter.
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Sales, Led by Digital, Jump at Amazon But Earnings Fall
Overall at Amazon, revenue rose 38%, to $9.86 billion, but net income fell 33%, to $201 million.
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Results Off at McGraw-Hill Education
With revenue in both its major operating groups falling, first-quarter sales at McGraw-Hill Education declined 4.6%, to $302.7 million, and the operating loss increased by 22.2%, to $75.5 million. In addition to lower revenue, parent company McGraw-Hill Cos. attributed the deeper loss to increased investments for digital infrastructure and product development.
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A Mix That Includes Fewer Books
One of the industry's biggest issues in 2011 is the loss of retail shelf space for print titles. The trend of book retailers devoting less space—and generating lower sales—from new books is seen in the recently released 10-k filings from Books-A-Million and Hastings Entertainment.
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Borders Bankruptcy Dents Courier Second Quarter
Printer and publisher Courier Corp. is one of the first publicly-traded companies to report a meaningful negative impact from the Borders' bankruptcy. In disclosing disappointing second quarter results for the period ended March 26, Courier said the bankruptcy contributed to a decline in its publishing group sales while also hurting results in the manufacturing group. In addition, Courier took a write-down of $750,000 to cover Borders' bad debt.
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Borders Bonus Plan Approved
In less than a half hour, this morning's Borders hearing ended with the court's approval of a modified plan for both the Key Employee Incentive Plan, or KEIP, for five senior managers and 10 additional managers, and the Key Employee Retention Plan, or KERP, which covers 25 critical employees.
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Kobo Gets $50 Million in New Financing
E-book and e-reader retailer Kobo has received a financial shot in the arm with $50 million in new financing, including $13 million from its majority shareholder Indigo Books and Music, Canada’s largest book retailer.
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AAP February 2011 Sales Report
AAP February 2011 Sales Report
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Print Stumbles Early As E-Books Skyrocket
The two reports measure different aspects of the book market and one is far more comprehensive than the other, but figures released last week by Nielsen BookScan and the Association of American Publishers showed a trade market where e-books are thriving and print books are struggling.
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February Bookstore Sales Rebound
The 4.9% decline in January bookstore sales was partially blamed on snowstorms that delayed students from buying textbooks for the spring semester. That reasoning seems to have been correct as the Census Bureau this morning reported that bookstore sales jumped 9.3% in February, to $1.11 billion. Sales include all items sold in college and trade bookstores. The rebound in February resulted in a slight two-month dip for bookstore sales, which were down 0.5%, to $3.33 billion.
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Industry Stocks: March Performances
Investors are placing more bets on Amazon and fewer on traditional retailers; that's the main takeaway from March's stock results. During the month, Amazon's share price rose 3.9%, while prices at Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million and Hastings all sank by double digits.
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Borders Paid Wholesalers $100 Million Prior to Chapter 11
A thick new document released yesterday lists every creditor to which Borders owes almost $396 million in trade payables, a second document shows how much money Borders paid publishers and other vendors within the 90 days prior to going Chapter 11. The two biggest companies to cash checks were Baker & Taylor and Ingram.
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Sales, Earnings Up at Random House
Led by a 250% increase in e-book sales, strong lists and favorable exchange rates, total revenue at Random House rose 6.1%, to 1.83 billion euros ($2.57 billion at current exchange rates), while earnings before interest, taxes and special items jumped 26.3% to 173 million euros ($243 million).
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Scholastic Reports Higher Third Quarter Loss
Lower sales of its high margin educational technology programs, higher investment in digital initiatives and school funding cuts combined to increase Scholastic's operating loss in the third quarter ended February 28 to $31.9 million from $500,000 in the comparable period in fiscal 2010.
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E-Books Poised To Overtake Mass Market Paperbacks
The Association of American Publishers’ monthly sales estimates come with a number of caveats, the most important being the limited number of companies that participate—85 in all, with participation among the segments much smaller than that. Still, they have provided a useful tool in gauging how e-book sales and print sales are faring among the major trade houses (the big six all report).
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January E-book Sales Soar, Top Hardcover, Mass Market Paperback
The surge of e-book buying expected to take place in January following a round of holiday e-reader gift-giving did in fact materialize. According to preliminary estimates from the Association of American Publishers, e-book sales from 16 reporting companies jumped 115.8%, to $69.9 million in January. No other trade segment posted a sales increase in the month. Sales of mass market paperbacks were terrible in January, down 30.9% from the nine reporting companies, falling to $39.0 million, $30 million below the sales of e-books. E-book sales also topped $49.1 million in adult hardcover sales reported by 17 publishers.
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Borders Creditors Committee Questions Financing, Calls for Exit Strategy
As the March 15 hearing on final approval for Borders's post-petition financing nears, the Creditors Committee is raising a host of objections to approving the DIP (debtor-in-possession) motion without modification. In a filing Thursday afternoon, the committee termed many of the the provisions "unreasonable, overreaching and otherwise inappropriate."
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Profits Fall at Hachette
Hachette Book Group USA parent company Lagardere released more detailed financial results yesterday, showing a 16.8% decline in earnings before interest and taxes to 250 million euros for the Lagardere Publishing Group in 2010. Earlier, the company reported that sales dropped 4.8% to 2.16 billion euros. The decline in profits, like the drop in earnings, was due to the phenomenal success of Stephenie Meyer in 2009; without the unprecedented sales from Meyer (45 million copies vs. 11 million), revenues were down in the U.S. and U.K.
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