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Nelson Gets New Owner; Friedman Named to Board
Kohlberg & Co. has acquired a majority interest in Thomas Nelson, in a deal the religion book publisher said will eliminate much of its long-term debt. Along with its investment, Kohlberg named several new board members, including Jane Friedman, who oversaw Nelson rival Zondervan when she headed HarperCollins. Kohlberg is a major investor in Friedman's new company, Open Road Integrated Media.
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F+W Media Restructures Debt; Nussbaum Heads New Board
F+W Media, Inc. said Friday that it has restructured its debt, a process that cut its debt by 50% and led to the appointment of a new board that is now headed by F+W CEO David Nussbaum. As part of the financial restructuring, ABRY Partners is now no longer the lead shareholder for F+W, although it will retain a small share of the company. "I have worked with the ABRY team for many years--prior to and during my time at F+W," said Nussbaum. "While they will no longer represent our majority ownership, we are grateful for their leadership and their support of the business during the past five years, and will remain trusted colleagues."
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First Quarter Results Off in Canada
Confirming reports of a slow first quarter in 2010 from numerous Canadian publishers and booksellers, BookNet Canada's figures show that both volume and value of book sales were down from the same quarter in 2009. The number of books sold in stores tracked by BookNet was down 2.8% and dollar value was down by 1.1%.
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Profits Flat at Educational Development Corp.
Earnings held even at $1.9 million in the fiscal year ended February 28 at Educational Development Corp. Sales at the children’s publisher and distributor fell 2.4%, to $28.7 million. Sales at EDC's largest division, Usborne Books and More, fell 11%, to $19.2 million. In the publishing division, which sells EDC's list to retailers, sales rose 16%, to $9.5 million.
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Reader's Digest Cuts Loss Despite Sales Decline
Reporting results for the first time since it emerged from bankruptcy protection in February, Reader's Digest had total revenue of $413.9 million in the first quarter ended March 31, down from $460.7 million in the comparable period a year ago. The operating loss was slashed to $27.1 million from $499.3 million.
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Borders Strategy: Fewer Stores, More Digital
With total revenue an comp sales down again in the first quarter of 2010, Borders Group's two top executives discussed way to improve the chain's profitability (loss in the quarter was reduced to $64.1 million, from $86.0 million) and its digital strategy.
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AAP, BISG Unite for New Statistics Program
The Association of American Publishers and the Book Industry Study Group are teaming up to develop new data-gathering models aimed at creating better statistics to measure sales for the entire book publishing industry as well as different market segments. For many years, the two organizations have developed their own statistics that tended to show different sales and growth rates. The new program will produce a unified sales estimate.
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With Twilight Dimmer, Sales Fall at Largardere, Though Digital Jumps
First quarter revenue at Lagardere Publishing fell 6.5%, to 433 million euros, as Stephenie Meyer sales slowed in the U.S., France and U.K. Sales of e-books jumped, and accounted for 8% of revenue at Hachette Book Group USA in the quarter.
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Worldcolor Shrinks Loss on Lower Sales
Revenue at Worldcolor fell 8.6% in the first quarter, but the giant printer said that its operating loss was cut to $11 million from $30 million. Worldcolor continued to streamline its operations ahead of its upcoming acquisition by Quad/Graphics, cutting its workforce by 7% in the first period.
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Hastings By the Numbers
Hastings By the Numbers
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Hachette Steps Up
Given the severity of the recession last year, the five largest trade houses in the U.S. fared fairly well as a group. With three of the five publishers owned by foreign companies, year-to-year comparisons can be imprecise because of currency fluctuations, but estimated total revenue generated in America fell less than 1% in the year, to $4.57 billion. Worldwide, revenue fell at HarperCollins and Simon & Schuster, rose at Penguin Group and Hachette, and stayed flat at Random House. And because the U.S. represents a significant portion of all five publishers' revenue, the financial performance in the U.S. mirrored that of their global results.
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Digital Sales Bright Spot in Mixed Quarter at Harlequin
Sales at Harlequin fell 9.4% in the first quarter, although lower spending resulted in higher earnings. Declines in North American retail were partially offset by significant digital sales growth.
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Improvement Continues at HarperCollins
HarperCollins posted a 13.6% sales increase in the third quarter ended March 31 and the publisher had a $4 million profit compared to a $8 million loss a year ago. The gains reflected more improvement over a soft fiscal 2009.
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Penguin Off to Good Start
Penguin Group is off to a good start, parent company Pearson said in a brief trading update this morning. The best early performers are Penguin USA and Penguin UK as well as the revamped Dorling Kindersley. "We expect another good competitive performance, with a compelling publishing schedule in the second half of the year," said chief executive Marjorie Scardino, noting the demand for e-books "remains very strong."
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McGraw-Hill Education Has Small First Quarter Gain
Gains in higher education and professional offset softness in the school group at McGraw-Hill Education in the first quarter leading to a 1.5% sales increase and lower operating loss.
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Books Down at Books-A-Million
Sales of books and magazine fell 5.5% at Books-A-Million in the year ended January 30, to $411 million, according to the retailer's recently filed 10-K report. Earlier this year, BAM reported that total revenue for the bookstore chain fell 1.3%, to $508.7 million. Better performing book segments were fiction, children's, and bargain books.
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Encouraging Beginning for Quarto
Total revenue at Quarto held even at £19.9 million for the first quarter ended March 31 and operating profit rose 14%, to £288,000.
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Blowout Quarter for Amazon
There continues to be nothing but positive numbers for Amazon. The e-tailer reported Thursday afternoon that total revenue for the company jumped 46% in the first quarter to $7.13 billion, and net income rose 68% to $299 million.
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Harper Heading Back Up
Compared to fiscal 2009, when HarperCollins underwent a major restructuring, fiscal 2010 was relatively quiet, and that stability helped the publisher post an 11% sales increase in the year, to $1.27 billion, while profits jumped to $88 million from $17 million.
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Borders Paying Two Execs $869,000 in Severance
Borders is paying $869,000 in severance to two departed executives.
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