Second quarter revenue at John Wiley for the period ended October 31 fell 1%, to $442 million, although net income increased 16%, to $53.6 million. Excluding the impact of foreign exchange, revenue was up 1%. Revenue was up in Wiley’s Higher Education segment, but down in the Professional/Trade and Scientific,Technical,Medical,Scholarly categories.
Sales in the Professional/Trade group fell 6%, to $112.8 million, a decline Wiley attributed to a 15% drop in consumer segment sales due to declines in cooking and travel and a 13% drop in the technology segment. Sales also continued to be soft in architecture, falling 8%. Sales in the business and education segments rose 4% and 13%, respectively, while psychology sales were flat. And weak retail sales offset a 66% increase in e-book sales, which rose to $10 million. During the quarter, Wiley introduced its first enhanced e-book, Lights, Camera Capture, a title it called a cross between a book and an app with over 150 videos and interactive features.
In Wiley’s Higher Education segment, revenue rose 9%, to $84 million, with sales up 12% in North America led by double-digital increases in engineering/computer science and the sciences. In addition to gains of print books, several of Wiley's digital programs added to sales: Sales of WileyPLus rose 7%, $11 million; WileyPLUS digital only sales increased 24%, to $5 million; and e-book sales increased 77%, to $3 million. In the STMS segment,sales were the most impacted by foreign exchange and fell 2%, to $245 million, but rose 3% excluding foreign exchange. Excluding foreign exchange, journal revenue was up as were books sales, wth book revenue reflecting higher online sales and lower returns.
For the first half of fiscal 2011, total revenue rose 2%, to $849.8 million, and net income was up 34%, to $97.7 million. The company said that for all of fiscal 2011 it still expects revenue to increase in mid-single digits with earnings-per-share up by 10%; both figures exclude the impact of currency translations.
