Revenue at McGraw-Hill Education rose 1.5%, to $317.2 million, for the first quarter ended March 31 and the operating loss was cut by 19.3%, to $61.8 million. The increase was led by the higher education/professional/international group which had a 8.3% sales gain, to $205.7 million. Sales in the elhi segment fell in the first quarter 9.0%, to $111.6 million, as MHE reported that a modest gain in the instructional materials market was offset by a decline in the testing market.
Parent company McGraw-Hill Cos. said "surging" sales of digital products helped drive first quarter gains in the higher education and professional markets. The higher education division had strong gains led by enrollment increases and double-digit sales increases of e-books, online courses and online homework management assessment products. In professional markets, digital revenue increased at a double-digit rate and traditional book sales in retail channels got off to a positive start in the first quarter, MHE said. Overseas, sales were down slightly, excluding the impact of currency fluctuations.
