Houghton Mifflin expects sales to grow by approximately 10% in 1999, according to the company's 10-K filing. The publisher cited increased adoption opportunities in 1999 as well as additional funding for educational and assessment materials as reasons for its optimistic outlook. The company had sales of $861 million and operating income of $40.8 million in 1998 (News, Feb. 8).
According to HM's annual report, the operating loss in the company's "other" segment deepened to $15.6 million from $6.1 million in 1997. Sales were up 1.3% to $89.2 million. Within the segment, sales rose 4% in the trade division, but that gain was offset by lower revenues at Houghton Mifflin Interactive. Revenue figures in the segment include sales from Computer Adaptive Technologies, which HM acquired in July for $10.8 million. The segment's increased loss was attributed to the acquisition of CAT plus lower sales at HMI and costs associated with moving its trade distribution warehouse.
In HM's educational divisions, operating income rose 1.2% to $98 million last year, on a 9.2% sales gain to $611.8 million in the company's K-12 publishing group, while earnings in the college division increased 24.6% to $19.7 million on a 7.9% sales gain to $160.7 million. In the K-12 group, the unit's supplementary publishing division, Great Source, produced a 25% sales increase, while sales rose 17% at its Riverside testing division and 13% at McDougal, Littell. College sales benefited from higher sales of both frontlist and backlist titles.
Among growth opportunities HM anticipates in 1999 are teacher training, online delivery of information and distance learning.
For the first quarter, total company sales increased 18% to $84.3 million, although its net loss remained flat at $36 million. Sales in the K-12 group rose 32% in the period, while college sales fell to $14.9 million from $15.4 million. Revenues in the "other" segment inched up to $17.4 million from $17 million, due to higher sales in the trade and reference division.
