Finance

While sales in Hudson Group's literature category dropped 5% in 2018 compared to 2017, book sales were about flat with 2017. Hudson operates about 60 bookstores in airports and sells books in another 500 of Hudson's 1,082 locations.

Revenue at Penguin Random House rose 1.9% in 2018 over 2017 and earnings increased 1.3%. PRH global CEO Markus Dohle said he expects to see more gains in 2019 due in part to more increases in digital audio sales and expanding global book markets.

Revenue rose 4% at Scholastic in the third quarter of fiscal 2019 over the comparable period a year ago, but higher costs caused the publisher to say its earnings for the full year will come in at the lower end of its forecast.

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.