Feb 23, 2010
Boosted by the acquisition of Barnes & Noble College Booksellers and
sales of the Nook, total revenue at the retailer rose 33%, to $2.17 billion,
for the third quarter ended January 30. Net income slipped to $80.4 million
from $81.0 million in the comparable period in fiscal 2009. The college stores,
acquired in September, added $566 million to revenue in the quarter, although
comp store sales were down 1.3%. The addition of the college division offset
another weak performance by B&N's trade stores where sales fell 4.7%, to
$1.4 billion, and same store sales were off 5.5%. Barnes & Noble.com had
its best quarter ever with sales up 32%, to $210 million, and the company said
sales accelerated throughout the quarter, jumping 67% in January.
Much of B&N.com's success was attributed to the Nook. "nook began
shipping only in the middle of the third quarter, and, as evident in our sales,
we are thrilled with how customers have embraced our product and our digital
eBook platform," said Steve Riggio, CEO of Barnes & Noble, Inc. "In
addition to the accelerating online sales trends, nook sales have been strong
at our bookstores since the product became available earlier this month."
Despite the success of the Nook, the company's forecast for the final
quarter of fiscal 2010 continues to call for a decline in comp sales at its
trade stores with same store sales expected to fall between 2% and 4% for the
quarter ending May 1. B&N
College's comparable
store sales are expected to be in a range of (1%) to 1%. Full-year comparable
store sales at Barnes & Noble stores are expected to decline 3% to 5% with
College's comparable store sales to be in a range of (1%) to 1% from the
acquisition date to the end of fiscal 2010.
The fourth quarter loss per share is expected to be in a range of $0.85 to $1.15 and fiscal year 2010 earnings per share is expected to be in a range of $0.23 to $0.53. For the nine month period ended January 30, total B&N sales were up 13.3%, to $4.49 billion, and net income was $68.7 million, down from $78.1 million in the comparable period in fiscal 2009.
Publishing news from across the Web
In an open letter to the DoJ published on Digital Book World, agent Simon Lipskar says the government has "a fatally flawed understanding of the economics and history of the emerging e-book industry."
The publisher has reduced the retail prices of e-books to the level of the paperback equivalents of about 2,000 literary titles published in hardback.
Inside University of Nebraska's Bison Books, which publishes four to eight hardcore baseball books per year.
The publisher is trying to handle its debt load.
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