Despite a 9% increase in earnings from continuing operations and revenue for the third quarter ended June 26, Courier Corp. will not likely hit its original forecasts for the full year. In a conference call with analysts discussing third-quarter results, Courier executives said they expect sales for fiscal 2004 to be between $211 million and $215 million, an increase of 4% to 6% over fiscal 2003; the original estimate predicted a 6% to 8% increase. Earnings per share from continuing operations are now projected to be up 5% to 9% for the year compared to earlier projections of an 8% to 13% gain.
In the third quarter, total revenue hit $55.5 million and income from continuing operations reached $5.2 million. Sales in Courier's manufacturing segment rose 8%, to $47 million, while sales in the publishing group increased 16%, to $10.4 million. Most of the gain in the publishing unit was due to the inclusion of Research & Education Association, which Courier bought in January and which contributed $1.3 million in sales. Sales at Dover Publications moved up 2%, to $9.1 million, and Courier president Jim Conway acknowledged that sales "were not everything we wanted." Sales through bookstore chains had the poorest performance in the quarter, down 7%, which offset gains to gift stores, craft stores and other nontraditional outlets. Direct-to-consumer sales were up 5% in the period, while international sales were flat.
One initiative planned to help boost Dover's sales is for REA sales reps to begin selling Dover's titles to its accounts, particularly college bookstores, executives said. A new catalogue aimed at teachers in grades k—8 is also being developed, and a teacher section on the Dover Web site is being created.
In Courier's manufacturing operations, Conway noted that "education really heated up" in the third quarter, with sales jumping 26%. The increase was led by a 30% gain in elhi sales, while sales in the college segment rose 23%. Executives credited the gains in part to Courier's new four-color press, which went online in the quarter. Printing sales in the religious segment were down 3%, due, executives said, to "shifts in timing" in the market; they predicted that sales in the segment would be up modestly for the full year. Sales in the trade segment were off 4% in the quarter as sales of computer game books continued to fall, offsetting a small increase in sales in other segments. Executives were hopeful that sales in the trade segment had turned the corner, noting that Courier "had a strong workload" for the fourth quarter.
