The long string of quarterly sales increases posted by Educational Development Corp. came to an end in the second quarter ended August 31. Revenue fell 1.7%, to $6.8 million, while earnings declined 15.3%, to $452,000.
The sales decline was due entirely to a drop in revenue in EDC's publishing division, where sales fell 10.6%, to $1.9 million. The company said comparisons in the quarter were negatively affected by a major order in 2003 from Target that was not repeated in 2004. Hurricanes hurt sales in the publishing division and also limited growth in the Usborne Books at Home division to 2.3%, to $4.8 million. Bad weather offset a slight increase in the number of people in the Usborne at Home party plan.
Despite the weak second quarter, total sales for the first six months of fiscal 2005 rose 7.3%, to $15.2 million, and earnings were up 13.9%, to $1.3 million. EDC chairman Randall White said that while he was not expecting a strong rebound in the third quarter, he still expects EDC to post solid gains for the full year.
