Sales fell 2% for the second quarter ended July 31 at Books-A-Million, with revenue dropping to $120 million from $122.4 million in the year-earlier period due to what executives called a weak book lineup that led to a 3.2% drop in comparable store sales. Despite the sales drop, net income for the second quarter rose to $1.9 million up from $1.5 million in the comparable period last year. Executives attributed the improvement in profits to cost-cutting measures that included a “significant decrease” in store salaries and health insurance. Increased sales of higher margin bargain books also contributed to earnings gains.
In addition to bargain books, the gift segment had good gains in the quarter. Sales in its core book business remained “difficult” executive v-p Terry Finley said, although sales rose in BAM’s children’s, biography and history categories. Finley said BAM sees few changes in the difficult retail environment in the third quarter, although he said the book lineup is better. He said BAM will look for ways to expand its in-store offerings, and although he noted the chain began selling e-books during the quarter, he offered no further details.
For the first half of 2010, BAM sales were down 1.5%, to $237 million, with same store sales off 3.4%. Earnings rose 8.3%, to $3.9 million
