Finance

For the quarter ended January 31, 2020, John Wiley reported that revenue rose 4% over last year’s third quarter, to $467.1 million, and net income increased 1.4%, to $35.4 million.

Unit sales of print books rose 0.9% in the week ended Feb. 22, 2020, over the comparable week in 2019, at outlets that report to NPD BookScan.

Revenue at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books & Media fell 9.9% in 2019, to $180.0 million, and the division had a net loss of $8.1 million, compared to net income of $2.4 million in 2018. A decline in licensing income was cited as the main reason for the sales drop.

Profits rose at Hachette Book Group last year over 2018 despite a 1% decline in revenue. The earnings increase was attributed to improved operating efficiencies in the year, along with higher sales of digital audiobooks.

With both adult categories posting small increases, unit sales of print books increased 1.4% in the week ended Feb. 15, 2020, over the comparable week in 2019.

Pearson’s 25% stake in Penguin Random House earned the company £65 million in operating profit in 2019. Pearson has sold its 25% share of PRH to Bertelsmann in a deal expected to generated net proceeds of $675 million when the transaction closes.

A tough fourth quarter where earnings were hurt by, among other factors, the tariffs on books manufactured in China contributed to a 7% drop in profits in 2019 at Simon & Schuster. Revenue in the year fell 1%.

Unit sales of print books fell 3.2% in the week ended Feb. 8, 2020, compared to the similar week in 2019, at outlets that report to NPD BookScan.

Book sales finished January strong, with print units up 5.6% in the week ended Feb. 2, 2020, over the comparable week in 2019, at outlets that report to NPD BookScan.

Sales of adult books from publishers reporting to AAP’s BookStats program fell 27% in November 2019 compared to the year before, and dropped 23.8% in the children’s/YA segment.