Finance

Print Unit Sales Up 2.5% in First Full Week of January

Revenue at Educational Development Corp. inched ahead 0.8% in the third quarter ended November 30, 2019, over the comparable period a year ago. Net income fell 2.8%, to $2.7 million.

Sales in the children/young adult category increased 20.9% in October over October 2018, while sales of adult books fell 3.7%, according to AAP's StatShot program.

The first full shopping week after Christmas, which ran from December 29, 2019, through January 4, 2020, saw unit sales of print books fall 3.7% compared to the similar week in 2010 at outlets that report to NPD BookScan.

A dip in adult nonfiction puts an end to a streak of small annual gains in total sales.

Barnes & Noble Education hired Morgan Stanley to serve as its financial adviser as it looks for ways to increase shareholder value in a fast-changing college material market.

After beginning 2019 with 10 companies, the Publishers Weekly Stock Index was down to only eight members at the close of the year, losing Barnes & Noble and Simon & Schuster. The remaining companies saw their combined stock price decline by 9%.

Founded in 2012 to help freelance and unemployed journalists get published in newspapers, magazines, and other periodicals, the organization now wants to ensure that more books by such writers pass through the publishing pipeline.

Print Units Dipped 0.7% in Mid-December

Sales and earnings slipped slightly in the second quarter of fiscal 2020 compared to the same time a year ago. The trade division saw a sales rise, and the company said it expects to hit its financial targets for the full fiscal year.