Barnes & Noble Reports 6.6% Drop in Sales in Q1 2017

Barnes & Noble has not started fiscal 2017 on the right foot. The bookstore chain announced its 2017 Q1 earning yesterday, reporting a 6.6% drop in sales and 6.1% decline in revenue. The press release stated that sales were below expectations and that B&N experienced a net loss of $14.4 million in Q1 2017, compared to a $7.8 million loss in Q1 2016. B&N expects retail sales will continue to decline gradually throughout fiscal 2017.

These numbers come after B&N unexpectedly fired its CEO Ron Boire in August. According to a recent conference call in which B&N executives discussed the Q1 results,  chairman Len Riggio, who is currently filling the CEO position, revealed that Boire's dismissal was due to a lack of inventory in stores. Riggio said on the call that the next B&N CEO will have a better understanding of book retailing and the importance of keeping bookshelves stocked.

Read the complete B&N press release below.

(September 8, 2016)—Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS) today reported sales and earnings for its fiscal 2017 first quarter ended July 30, 2016.

Total sales for the first quarter were $913.9 million, declining 6.6% as compared to the prior year. Retail sales, which include Barnes & Noble stores and BN.com, declined 6.1% to $881.7 million for the quarter. Comparable store sales declined 6.0% for the quarter, softer than the Company’s expectations, due in large part to lower traffic and the challenging retail environment. NOOK sales, which include digital content, devices and accessories, declined 24.5% to $41.0 million for the quarter.

Retail incurred an operating loss of $7.4 million during the quarter, which includes severance charges and consulting fees of $7.9 million resulting from Retail’s cost reduction initiatives. NOOK incurred an operating loss of $14.0 million, which includes severance and transitional costs of $7.2 million related to the previously announced outsourcing of certain NOOK services and the closure of its California and Taiwan offices.

The consolidated first quarter net loss from continuing operations was $14.4 million, or $0.20 per share, as compared to a loss from continuing operations of $7.8 million, or $0.27 per share, in the prior year. Excluding the charges noted above, the consolidated first quarter net loss from continuing operations would have been $5.0 million, or $0.07 per share.

Retail generated EBITDA of $17.6 million, inclusive of the Retail charges noted above. Excluding the charges, Retail EBITDA would have been $25.5 million, a decline of $19.8 million versus the prior year, primarily as a result of the sales decrease.

NOOK EBITDA losses were $7.9 million, which includes the NOOK charges noted above. Excluding the charges, NOOK EBITDA losses would have been $0.7 million, improving $16.6 million as compared to a year ago, due primarily to the Company’s cost rationalization efforts.

On a consolidated basis, the Company generated first quarter EBITDA of $9.6 million. Excluding the charges noted above, consolidated EBITDA would have been $24.7 million, or $3.2 million lower than the prior year.


Return of Capital

During the quarter, the Company returned $20.8 million in cash to its shareholders, including $11.1 million in dividends and $9.7 million through share repurchases. The Company acquired approximately 830,000 shares at an average price of $11.73 during the quarter under its share repurchase program.

Outlook

The Company remains focused on executing its previously announced strategic initiatives to increase sales and reduce expenses.  Given the softer than expected sales results to date, and the expected continuation of the challenging retail environment, the Company now expects fiscal 2017 comparable store sales to decline in the low single digits.

Although the Company is reducing its comparable store sales expectations, through its expense reduction initiatives, it continues to expect full year consolidated EBITDA to be in a range of $200 million to $250 million. Retail EBITDA is expected to be in a range of $240 million to $280 million, excluding the impact of any charges related to its cost reduction initiatives and costs associated with the recent CEO departure. NOOK EBITDA losses are expected to decline to a range of $30 million to $40 million, including previously announced transitional costs.

Conference Call

A conference call with Barnes & Noble, Inc.’s senior management will be webcast beginning at 10:00 A.M. ET on Thursday, September 8, 2016, and is accessible at www.barnesandnobleinc.com/webcasts.
 
Barnes & Noble, Inc. will report fiscal 2017 second quarter results on or about December 1, 2016.

Financial Tables

Download financial tables related to the sales and earnings for the fiscal 2017 first quarter ended July 30, 2016:

• Consolidated Statements of Operations
• Consolidated Balance Sheets
• Segment Information
• Loss Per Share
• Guidance Reconciliation

About Barnes & Noble, Inc.

Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS) is a Fortune 500 company, the nation’s largest retail bookseller, and a leading retailer of content, digital media and educational products. The Company operates 638 Barnes & Noble bookstores in 50 states, and one of the Web’s premier e-commerce sites, BN.com (www.bn.com). The NOOK Digital business offers a lineup of popular NOOK (www.nook.com) tablets and eReaders and an expansive collection of digital reading and entertainment content through the NOOK Store®. The NOOK Store features more than 4 million digital books in the US plus periodicals, comics, apps, movies and TV shows, and offers the ability to enjoy content across a wide array of popular devices through Free NOOK Reading Apps™ available for Android™, iOS® and Windows®.

General information on Barnes & Noble, Inc. can be obtained by visiting the Company's corporate website at www.barnesandnobleinc.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements (within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended) and information relating to Barnes & Noble that are based on the beliefs of the management of Barnes & Noble as well as assumptions made by and information currently available to the management of Barnes & Noble. When used in this communication, the words “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “plan,” “will,” “forecasts,” “projections,” and similar expressions, as they relate to Barnes & Noble or the management of Barnes & Noble, identify forward-looking statements.

Such statements reflect the current views of Barnes & Noble with respect to future events, the outcome of which is subject to certain risks, including, among others, the general economic environment and consumer spending patterns, decreased consumer demand for Barnes & Noble’s products, low growth or declining sales and net income due to various factors, including store closings, higher-than-anticipated or increasing costs, including with respect to store closings, relocation, occupancy (including in connection with lease renewals) and labor costs, the effects of competition, the risk of insufficient access to financing to implement future business initiatives, risks associated with data privacy and information security, risks associated with Barnes & Noble’s supply chain, including possible delays and disruptions and increases in shipping rates, various risks associated with the digital business, including the possible loss of customers, declines in digital content sales, risks and costs associated with ongoing efforts to rationalize the digital business and the digital business not being able to perform its obligations under the Samsung commercial agreement and the consequences thereof, the risk that financial and operational forecasts and projections are not achieved, the performance of Barnes & Noble’s initiatives including but not limited to its new store concept and e-commerce initiatives, unanticipated adverse litigation results or effects, potential infringement of Barnes & Noble’s intellectual property by third parties or by Barnes & Noble of the intellectual property of third parties, and other factors, including those factors discussed in detail in Item 1A, “Risk Factors,” in Barnes & Noble’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended April 30, 2016, and in Barnes & Noble’s other filings made hereafter from time to time with the SEC.

Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results or outcomes may vary materially from those described as anticipated, believed, estimated, expected, intended or planned. Subsequent written and oral forward-looking statements attributable to Barnes & Noble or persons acting on its behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by the cautionary statements in this paragraph. Barnes & Noble undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise after the date of this communication.