Finance

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.

Led by a strong performance in its trade division, revenue at Scholastic rose 7% in the first quarter ended August 31, 2019, over the comparable period in fiscal 2019. The net loss was cut to $58.5 million, from $61.3 million in last year’s first quarter.

Unit sales rose 24% in the first six months of 2019 over the comparable period in 2018, while revenue increased 26% at Sourcebooks.

Open Road said revenue in the first six months of 2019 rose 36% over the comparable period in 2018, while earnings jumped 72%.

Softness in John Wiley’s education publishing and professional learning group limited growth in the first quarter ended July 31, 2019, to 3%, and contributed to a 87% drop in operating income.

Driven by a number of acquisitions and hundreds of bestselling books, profits at Penguin Random House jumped 33.0% in the first half of 2019 over the comparable period in 2018 and revenue rose 11.3%.