First-Quarter Slip for Quarto  

-- Publishers Weekly, 4/29/2009 10:17:00 AM

U.K.-based Quarto Group had a dip in sales and earnings in the first quarter ended March 31, with revenue down 5%, to £19.8 million, and operating income falling to £252,000 from £268,000. U.K. publishing sales were up slightly, international co-edition sales were down, though new orders are up. Business in the U.S. was negatively impacted by consolidating its warehouse and backoffice operations, and as CEO Laurence Orbach noted, the U.S. “remains pivotal to our performance.” While Orbach added that there are “no harbingers of spring in the air,” he said there were some signs of stability. At the recently concluded London Book Fair, Orbach observed, while “the froth has gone out of the market, underlying demand remains substantial.”