Second quarter revenue dropped 17.2% at McGraw-Hill Education, to $555.2 million, as sales in the school education group tumbled 22.7%, to $338.6 million. The higher education/professional/international group did better but revenue still declined, falling 6.9%, to $216.6 million. Operating profit at MHE fell 70.1%, to $21 million, reflecting in part a pre-tax restructuring charge of $11.6 million associated with the reorganization of the school group, a move that will eliminate 340 positions.
In the school group, MHE attributed the decline to weak state budgets and fewer adoptions; large states such as California and Florida, coping with budget shortfalls, have reduced purchases from historic levels, MHE said, adding that Federal stimulus money has yet to kick in. Supplemental sales are also soft, as lower demand for backlist products offset higher orders for intervention materials. Testing sales were also off. MHE said it expects the entire elhi market to decline 15% to 20% this year.
In the higher education/professional/international group the higher education segment did better than expected with sales up in all of MHE’s major imprints, and sales of digital products rose by double digits. MHE upped its forecast for growth in the higher ed market to 5% to 7% from 3% to 4%. Revenue in the professional market was hurt by continued weakness at U.S. retailers, although digital product sales in the segment also increased by double digits. Softness in some foreign markets as well as the negative impact of foreign exchange hurt overall results in the international unit.
For the first six months of the year, sales at MHE fell 13.3%, to $867.8 million, and the company had an operating loss of $55.6 million compared to a $20.9 million loss in the first half of 2008.
