Barnes & Noble Reports Fiscal 2012 First Quarter Financial Results
"Our strategy of growing market share in the exploding digital content business while maximizing cash flow and EBITDA from our retail operations is paying off," said William Lynch, chief executive officer. "We plan to continue investing in the significant growth areas of our business, and in fiscal 2012, we expect to see leverage as our digital sales growth is projected to exceed the growth of investment spend. Additionally, the return on investment is expected to increase in future years, as readers purchase increasing amounts of digital content on the platform we have built."
"Our NOOK eReaders and applications continue to be cited as the finest digital reading products on the market, with the new NOOK Simple Touch Reader recently rated as the best eReader," Mr. Lynch added. "The company is encouraged by the progress achieved against our strategy and believes in our plan to continue to appropriately invest in the massive digital opportunity, while delivering strong EBITDA growth this year."
GUIDANCE
For the full fiscal year 2012 consolidated sales are forecasted to be $7.4 billion. Comparable sales at BN.com are expected to increase 60% to 70%. Barnes & Noble comparable store sales are expected to increase 2% to 3% and College's comparable store sales are expected to be flat. The company expects a $150 million to $200 million sales lift in this fiscal year following the complete liquidation of Borders stores. The consolidated NOOK business across all of the company's segments, including sales of digital content, device hardware and related accessories, is expected to double this year to $1.8 billion from $880 million last year and $123 million in fiscal 2010, on a comparable sales basis.
The company expects full year earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) to be in a range of $210 million to $250 million, representing a 30% to 50% increase as compared to the prior year. This year's EBITDA forecast includes transaction, advisory and legal costs of approximately $15 million related to the strategic alternatives process and the recently completed $204 million investment made by Liberty Media in the company. The company expects full year losses per share to be in a range of $0.10 to $0.50.
