Trudy Corp.'s licensing agreement signed with Disney in June 2003 was not enough to push the children's book publisher into the black. In fact, Trudy announced last week that in the fiscal year ended March 31, it lost even more money—$1.7 million—than it did in fiscal 2003, when it lost $315,000. And although final sales figures are still not ready, Trudy expects that revenue for the year will be down about 19%.
Trudy, parent company of Soundprints, noted that while its expansion into more outlets, including mass merchandisers, boosted gross sales, returns were higher than expected. Sales were also hurt by a delay in publishing new titles, which resulted in a sales decline to stores and libraries.
