Courier's Mixed Performance
Staff -- Publishers Weekly, 5/14/2001
Dover Publications had sales of $6.8 million and an operating loss of $324,000 for the second quarter ended March 31, 2001, parent company Courier Corp. said. Courier chairman James Conway III said results at Dover "reflected seasonal trends." Dover is performing near expectations since its September purchase, and Conway said Dover's margins should improve as the company's vertical integration strategy takes hold. "We are intent on growing sales for this unit at double-digit rates," Conway said.
On March 8, Dover launched its new Web site, www.doverpublications.com, and in its first 40 days of operation the site had more than 100,000 visitors who bought more than 30,000 books at full retail price.
In Courier's book manufacturing segment, sales fell 3% to $42.7 million. The company said while sales to elhi publishers were up, sales to college publishers "were well below last year's levels." Sales to computer book publishers were sharply down in the quarter, although religion book sales grew at a double-digit rate.
