Finance

Sales of adult trade books fell 7.3% in January compared to the first month of 2018, according to the AAP’s StatShot program. Sales in the children’s/young adult category rose 4.3%.

Earnings at Lagardère Publishing fell 9.6% in 2018 compared to 2017, but increased at its U.S. subsidiary, Hachette Book Group, where sales were up 3.7%.

A failed attempt to shift the magazine and book publisher's business to an e-commerce model has led F+W to sell both its books division, which has revenues of $22 million, and It's communities group, which had sales of almost $68 million.

In a year in which it replaced both its chairman and CEO and sold or closed a number of divisions, the Quarto Group reported that revenue in 2018 fell 2% from 2017. The company’s bottomline improved as adjusted profit rose to $10.3 million from $7.2 million a year ago.

Total revenue at B&N in the third quarter ended January 26, 2019 was flat at $1.23 billion as retail sales rose 0.3% and Nook revenue fell 21%. Comparable sales were up 1.1%, but earnings fell slightly.

In the Wiley publishing segment, the company reported that educational publishing revenue dropped 23% compared to last year’s third quarter, while STM and professional publishing revenue fell 20%. Overall sales for the company dropped 1%.

The faster than expected move from physical textbooks to digital offerings was the key factor in a 8.8% revenue decline at Barnes & Noble Education for the quarter ended January 29.

With the stock prices of nine of the 11 companies on the Publishers Weekly Stock Index rising in February, the PWSI managed to eke out a 0.9% increase.

The 2018 sales increase in the Houghton Mifflin Harcourt trade group was led by higher licensing income. Meanwhile, the net loss for the entire company, which includes the education division, was cut to $90.5 million from $135.1 million in 2017.

Pearson, which owns a 25% stake in Penguin Random House, said the global trade publisher had a solid 2018 led by increased audiobook sales and stable print sales.