Finance

Helped by acquisitions, revenue at John Wiley rose 4% in the second quarter of fiscal 2020 and net income increased 2.1%. The company's academic and professional learning division was a soft spot, with revenue falling 6%.

Through the first nine months of 2019, sales of adult trade books were up 1.1% over the comparable period in 2018 for the publishers who report sales to AAP’s BookStat program. Sales in the children/young adult segment rose 8.0% in the same period.

Led by a solid quarter by Regnery, sales in Salem Media Group's publishing division rose 15.8% in the third quarter of 2019 over the comparable period last year.

Profits rose by $1 million at Simon & Schuster in the third quarter of 2019 over the comparable period in 2018, despite a 9% drop in sales. In last year's third quarter, Bob Woodward's 'Fear' drove strong sales for the publisher.

Profits dropped 28% at HarperCollins in the first quarter of fiscal 2020 compared to the first period of fiscal 2019, while revenue declined 3%. Parent company New Corp expects HC's financial performance to improve starting in January, the second half of the fiscal year.

Revenue at Hachette Book Group fell marginally in the third quarter ended September 30, 2019, dipping just 0.3%, parent company Lagardère reported. One reason for the small decline was slowing sales of the longtime backlist bestseller 'You Are a Badass.'

The printing giant posted a sales decline of 17.9% in the third quarter, although excluding one-time items, "organic sales" were down 9.3%. The company also lowered its forecast for sales and earnings for the full year.

The absence of licensing income earned in last year’s third quarter led to a 27.9% decline in sales at the Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books & Media group for the period ended September 30, 2019, compared to last year’s third quarter.

The children/young adult category was one of only two categories that posted a sales increase this August over August 2018, according to AAP’s StatShot program.

Sales in the children/young adult category rose 16.6% in July over July 2018, while sales of adult books increased 3.9% in the month over 2018, according to the AAP’s StatShot program.