In a year in which it sold or closed the programs in its consumer publishing business and began what it says is the biggest restructuring effort in the company’s history, John Wiley reported a 1% drop in revenue for the fiscal year ended April 30, to $1.76 billion, while operating income fell $144.2 million from $212.7 million in fiscal 2012.
The decline in earnings reflects a number of one-time charges, including $29.3 million in restructuring charges and $30 million in impairment charges. The earnings also reflect a $6 million net gain on the sale of its consumer publishing programs that includes a $3.8 million loss on the sale of unidentified consumer assets offset by a $9.8 million gain from the sale of its travel assets. According to the company, the impairment charges included “accrued redundancy costs; U.S. defined benefit pension plan terminations costs; process reengineering consulting costs and the write off of certain publishing and technology assets.” Wiley hopes to save $80 million when the restructuring is completed.
From an operating standpoint, sales in the professional development segment fell 3%, to $$416.5 million, a decline that included $45.5 million in sales from the since-sold consumer publishing properties in fiscal 2013 and $73.0 million in fiscal 2012. Revenue in the research segment (formerly known as the scientific/technical/medial/scholarly group) fell 3%, to $1.0 billion, while in the education groups (former known as global education), sales rose 6%, to $334.4 million. Across the company, Wiley said that sales of print books fell more than expected. The company noted, for example, that in the fourth quarter print book sales fell 12%, excluding the revenue from divested assets, while digital book revenue grew 18%. In the education segment, print text book sales fell 26% in the fourth quarter, while custom print sales rose 61% and e-book sales grew 3%. In the research segment, print book sales fell 25% and digital book sales dropped 12%
In prepared remarks CEO Steve Smith said he expects fiscal 2014 to be a transition year as the company continues to execute its restructuring plans and integrates newly acquired businesses into its operations.
