Currency Impacts Wiley Start

First-quarter sales at John Wiley’s higher education group rose 12%, to $69.2 million, with the company attributing the gains to growth in every region and subject category. Revenue in the professional/trade segment fell 10%, to $89.7 million, with sales in North America off 8% on a currency neutral basis. Wiley said conditions in North America appear to be stabilizing and noted that the segment had strong August sales. In the scientific, technical, medical, scholarly segment, revenue fell 5%, to $229.4 million, but was up 2% on a currency neutral basis.

Wiley noted that currency fluctuations had a significant impact on reported results. Total revenue in the period ended July 31 was $388 million, down 3% from the first quarter of fiscal 2009, but up 2% excluding the impact of foreign exchange. Operating income rose from $44 million to $56 million, but net income, including a loss of nearly $10 million from currency fluctuations, dropped 11%, to $26.9 million.

Haights Cross In Debt Deal

Haights Cross Communications announced last week that it had reached an agreement with its senior lenders that will lower its debt obligations from $380 million to about $180 million and give the company more time to repay its lenders. To implement the financial restructuring, HC will file for pre-packaged bankruptcy, a move, the company said, that will not affect the operations of HC’s two subsidiaries, Recorded Books and Triumph Learning.

Quartet Press Disbands

The principals behind Quartet Press, a digital publishing startup slated to start in the fall to focus on e-books, have decided to terminate the venture. Kat Meyer, a book marketer, blogger and one of the principals behind the company, said higher than expected costs and launch delays forced the decision to close. Among the other principals was Don Linn, former senior v-p and publisher of Taunton Press and former owner of Consortium.

Balliett to Head Thames & Hudson

Will Balliett is leaving as editor-in-chief of Hyperion to become president and publisher of Thames & Hudson Inc., the U.S. subsidiary of the U.K. illustrated book publisher. Balliett will join T&H next month, succeeding Peter Warner, who will be retiring after 30 years as Thames & Hudson’s president.

Blu Sky Closing Down

Citing the recession and tight credit policies, Blu Sky Media Group, the Nashville distributor for small presses, is closing down. Blu Sky CEO Greg Snider said he has worked out an agreement with his bank giving his clients up to 120 days to move their inventory to a new distributor, and Snider has reached agreements with two distributors to take over distribution for Blu Sky’s 72 clients.

New Ventures From NBN

Working with its sister company, Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, National Book Network has formed NBN Fusion, which will offer digital e-book distribution and conversion services, production services and manufacturing services, including print-on-demand and digital short-run options to both its distribution clients and other publishers. In a second initiative, NBN is launching a professional, scholarly and reference division that will offer sales and marketing representation to institutional sales channels for trade houses as well as professional publishers.

Levitz Stepping Down as Part of DC Reorg

Paul Levitz will step down as president and publisher of DC Comics, which in turn will be reorganized and renamed DC Entertainment. Diane Nelson, formerly president of Warner Premier, Warner Bros. direct-to-DVD unit, will take over as president of DC Entertainment, a unit charged with integrating DC Comics’s comic book characters into the movie, TV and production businesses of Warner Bros. DC Comics’s parent company. Levitz, president and publisher since 2002, will return to work as writer and editor for DC Comics as well as overseeing the transition of DC Comics into DC Entertainment.

Cooke Agency Unit to Sell Rights

Canada’s Cooke Agency has formed Cooke Agency International to sell subsidiary rights for Canadian houses. Its first two clients are Random House Canada and McClelland & Stewart, and with the agreement both publishers laid off employees in their respective rights departments.

Correction

In last week’s magazine, Richard Sarnoff was incorrectly identified as co-chairman of Random House. He is co-chairman of Bertelsmann Inc.