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Nebraska Book Co. Files for Chapter 11
NBC Acquisition Corp., parent company of Nebraska Book Company, the country’s third largest operator of college bookstores as well as a major wholesaler of college texts, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Monday morning in what it says is part of a plan to recapitalize its debt.
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AAP April Sales Report
Number of reporting companies Hurt by Borders's going-out-of-business events, sales in the adult trade segments had steep declines in April, according to monthly estimates from the AAP. The children's segments fared better, but print sales of trade titles from the houses that report to the AAP fell 21.9% in the month, to $313.8 million.
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B&N Waits for the Digital Payoff
Although Barnes & Noble lost $74 million in the fiscal year ended April 30 and BN.com had negative EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) of $204.6 million, executives said they remain confident that the company's online/digital arm is on track to become a solidly profitable business.
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Digital Jumps, Print Plunges in AAP Monthly Sales Report
E-book sales had another strong month in April, with sales up 157.5%, to $72.8 million from the 22 companies that report results to the Association of American Publishers.
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Osprey Gets Additional Funding; Seeks Acquisitions
Osprey Group said Monday morning that it has completed “a major refinancing” agreement with the London-based private equity firm Alcuin Capital Partners.
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Wiley Posts Gains in Sales and Earnings in Fiscal 2011
With all three of its major operating groups posting at least some gains in the fiscal year ended April 30, John Wiley & Sons reported a 3% increase in revenue, to $1.74 billion, with net income rising 20%, to $171.9 million. Results include the impact of foreign exchange which curtailed gains slightly. Wiley benefited, however, from increasing digital sales as noted by Stephen Smith who took over as CEO earlier this spring following the retirement of Will Pesce. “The shift to digital continues to enhance all of our businesses, resulting in new revenue models, new opportunities in emerging markets, and margin and working capital improvements,” Smith said in a prepared statement.
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Sales, Earnings Dip at Educational Development Corp.
Sales at Educational Development Corp. fell to $27.2 million in the fiscal year ended February 28 from $28.7 million in fiscal 2010. Earnings declined to $1.2 million from $1.9 million. The sales declined came in EDC's Usborne Books and More division where sales fell to $17.4 million from $19.2 million. Sales in the publishing division rose 3.4%, to $9.8 million.
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Market Watch: Industry Stocks: May Performances
With investors betting that John Malone's $17 per share bid for Barnes & Noble will go higher, B&N's stock price jumped 78.5% in May to a 52-week high of $19.62 at the end of the month. Some market analysts have speculated that a final bid could come in the $20 to $22 range. Largely thanks to B&N's gains, the Publishers Weekly Stock Index rose 3.0% in the month split between seven winners and six losers. Another big winner in May was Donnelley, which overcame a disappointing first-quarter report to post a 13.1% increase in its stock price helped by a $1 per share buyback program. The biggest May loser was Books-A-Million, which lost money in its first quarter and said it expected the second period to be another difficult quarter.
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E-Book Sales Up 159% in Quarter, Print Falls
After increasing at a 169% rate in the first two months of 2011, e-book sale rose at a relatively modest 145.7% clip in March, to $69 million, according to the 16 publishers who report figures to AAP's monthly sales estimates.
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Industry Stocks: April 2011 Performances
The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Publishers Weekly Stock Index rose by similar amounts in April, with the Dow ahead 4.8% and the PWSI up 4.3%. The stock prices of nine companies on the PWSI rose in the month while prices declined at four. Barnes & Noble’s stock price continued to be the most volatile in the publishing and bookselling industries.
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First-Quarter Scorecard: Week of 5/9/2011
The strong Canadian dollar lowered reported sales gains and turned what would have been an increase in operating income to a slight decline. Digital sales increased by C$7.1 million in North America, offsetting sales decline of print in retail and online channels. E-books accounted for 13.6% of worldwide sales, about C$15.6 million. Harlequin expects the remainder of the year to be stable.
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Borders By the Numbers: Week of 5/9/2011
$300.3 million: Loss from continuing operations, 2010
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Book Sales Lower at HarperCollins
HarperCollins had lower book sales in the third quarter ended March 31, according to parent company News Corp.'s 10-Q filing with the SEC. In a statement issued by HC, the company said e-book sales in the quarter accounted for 19% of sales in the U.S. and 11% worldwide.
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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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