Hastings Overcomes Weak Book Sales

by Staff -- Publishers Weekly, 8/30/2004

Sales and earnings rose at Hastings Entertainment for the second quarter ended July 31, although comparable store sales in the book segment fell 1.2% in the period. The drop in the book category was attributed to the high sales of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix last June. Total sales at Hastings increased 6.1%, to $122.4 million, while net income jumped 161%, to $491,000 from $188,000.

Hastings attributed the improved performance to a 4% gain in comp store sales that was led by a 26.2% increase in sales of videos, a 9.4% gain in video game sales and a 4.8% increase in music sales. Despite the big gain in earnings, profits did not meet expectations in the quarter, Hastings said, due to $500,000 in extra costs associated with installing a new warehouse management system. The company said that, despite the earnings shortfall in the quarter, it still expected to meet its earnings objectives for the full year.

At the midpoint of 2004, sales and earnings were running ahead of last year's pace, with revenue up 7.4%, and the company reported net income of $2.3 million compared to a loss of $880,000 in the first six months of 2003. Comp sales of books were up 3.1% in the first half of 2004.