Acquisitions and an improvement in school funding helped to increase revenue 15.8%, to $48.7 million, at Haights Cross Communications in the third quarter ended September 30. Net loss in the period was cut to $1.9 million from $8.6 million. The sales gain included revenue of $3.4 million from Buckle Down Publishing, which Haights acquired in April.
Buckle Down is part of Haights's Triumph Learning Group, which had a total revenue gain of 59.4%, to $10.1 million. Triumph's results were hurt by hurricanes that affected markets in Florida. Sales at the Sundance/Newbridge division edged up to $13.7 million from $13.6 million, as the unit released 168 new titles in the period. The Oakstone Medical Publishing division had a 43.6% sales gain, to $5.6 million, led by growth in subscription sales of its Practical Reviews line.
Haights's library group had mixed results. Recorded Books posted another good quarter, with sales up 11.2%, to $17 million. During the quarter, Recorded Books launched Evergreen, an imprint that makes audiobooks available to libraries on CDs. The company's Recorded Books Unlimited program, which allows consumers to rent as many audiobooks as they want for a monthly fee, doubled its membership in the period. Sales at Chelsea House, however, were weak, falling 21.2%, to $2.3 million. For the nine-month period, sales at Chelsea were off 14.8%, to $8.6 million.
For the entire company, sales for the first nine months of 2004 were up 12%, to $139.2 million, although the net loss increased to $10.5 million from $2.8 million.
After the close of the quarter, Haights announced that it had signed a definitive agreement to acquire Options Publishing Inc. Based in Merrimack, N.H., Options publishes k—8 reading, math and literature supplemental education materials. Options will remain in Merrimack under the direction of current president Barbara Russell.
