Industry Stocks: March Performances

Facts & Figures 2009 Revised

Due to adminstrative error and one miscategorization, the ranked sales figures for adult hardcover fiction and nonfiction and trade and mass market paperbacks that appeared in our March 22 issue require correction. Portions of information submitted by six publishers—Hachette (Grand Central and Little, Brown's Back Bay imprints), Random House (Anchor/Vintage), HarperCollins (some William M...

Solid Quarter for Scholastic

Strong educational sales led to a solid third quarter at Scholastic.

Borders Cuts Loss as Sales Fall 13%

Borders Group managed to cut its losses for the fiscal year ended January 30, although the improvement came in part from a $32.4 million tax refund. Sales fell 13.8%, to $2.82 billion.

Borders Lives as New Financing Arranged

Less than 24 hours before it was due to repay a $42.5 million loan to its largest shareholder, Borders Group has arranged new financing that will allow it to pay back the loan and also give it an extra three years on its credit agreement that was set to mature in July 2011.

Random House Ends Slide

After two consecutive years of declining sales and earnings, Random House managed to steady the financial ship in 2009 with profits holding even in the year and revenue eking out a small increase. Parent company Bertelsmann said Random was able to keep profits stable because of reduced costs in all divisions, a strong commercial publishing program, and the effects of currency translations.

Quarto Slipped In 2009

The worldwide recession took its toll on 2009 results for the Quarto Group, with total revenue down 5%, to £106.6 million ($160 million), and operating income off 10%, to £10.2 million. Given the difficult economic conditions, chairman Laurence Orbach said he was satisfied with results and expects some improvement in 2010.

AAP January Sales Report

The View from the Top

Updated March 25, 2010, with new lists that incorporate previously omitted titles and sales figures. The incorrect list has been removed from the site.

Reader's Digest Moves Out of Bankruptcy

Reader's Digest has officially emerged from pre-packaged bankruptcy today, a moved that enabled the struggling publisher to dramatically cut its debt.

Hachette USA Has Record Year Despite Down Fourth Quarter

Fourth quarter sales at Hachette Book Group USA fell 20% in the fourth quarter has a number of new bestsellers could not offset the record results turned in by Stephenie Meyer titles in the final quarter of 2008. Still, HBG USA had a record 2009.

Big Quarter for HarperCollins

Sales for the quarter ended December 31 jumped 25% at HarperCollins and operating income rose to $65 million from $23 million. Going Rogue helped to lift sales, and comparisons were helped by a very poor quarter in 2008.

Amazon Has Blockbuster Year

Sales and earnings hit records in all major segments of Amazon's business in 2009 and the company has sold "millions" of Kindles, according to CEO Jeff Bezos.

Courier Corp. Has Better First Quarter

Courier Corp. began to show improvement in both its manufacturing and publishing segments in the quarter ended December 26, the first period of its new fiscal year. Total revenue increased 6%, to $63.1 million, and net income jumped to $2.8 million from $703,000 in the comparable quarter of fiscal 2009.

Pearson Expects Better Earnings

Good gains in higher education led Pearson to report earnings for the year will be higher than expected. The company noted that Penguin had a good holiday season.

Stocks Rebound In 2009

After tumbling 46.6% in 2008, the Publishers Weekly Stock Index jumped 67.5% in 2009, with the stock prices of all but one company increasing in the year. The lone company to post a decline in 2009 was Courier Corp., whose stock price fell 20.4% in 2009 and was down 56.8% since the end of 2007. Courier has suffered from softness in both its printing and publishing operations, although it is hop...

Units Post Modest Decline In 2009

The first sales figures for how the industry fared in 2009 are in from Nielsen BookScan, and they show a decline in unit sales, though given the severity of the recession, the drop is a modest one. Total units fell 3.3%, to 751.7 million, for the year ended January 3 at the outlets that report sales to BookScan.

Scholastic Weathers Rough Economy

Increases in the school and international segments offset declines in the trade and media groups, resulting in a 1% increase in overall revenue at Scholastic in the second quarter ended November 30. Operating income slipped to $105.6 million from $108.0 million, but net income in the quarter rose to $55.5 million from $43.1 million.

Bookstore Sales Dip Slightly

Despite the severe recession, bookstore sales through the first nine months of 2009 are down by less than 1%, according to estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau. Sales, which include results from college bookstores, were $13.56 billion through October, off just 0.7% from the same period in 2008. Bookstores have fared better than the overall retail market, which was down 8.

Barnes & Noble Has Mixed Quarter, Lowers Earnings Guidance

Sales from its general stores fell 2% in the quarter, but rose 9% from B&N.com and the acquisition of Barnes & Noble College Booksellers added $65 million to revenue. Demand for the Nook exceeded expectations, but increased higher production costs and slow retail traffic forced the company to lower earnings expectations.