The Borders Group and Books-A-Million both reported double-digit sales increases for the second quarter and six-month period ended July 31, 1999.

Second-quarter sales at Borders Group rose 15.6% to $631 million, led by a 24.8% increase in sales at Borders superstores to $423.8 million. The gain was due to an increased number of stores as well as a 4.4% increase in comparable-store sales. During the quarter, 11 domestic superstores and one international outlet were opened. Sales at Waldenbooks fell 1% to $184.4 million as same-store sales fell 1.9%. Eight new Walden outlets were opened and six closed in the quarter. Sales in the company's international business, which includes 27 Books, Etc. and six Borders stores, increased 56% in the period.

Despite the gain in sales, Borders Group had a $2.6 million net loss; its net income of $800,000 from the company's retail operations was offset by Borders. com's $3.4 million loss. As reported earlier, Borders.com had sales of $3.3 million in the second quarter.

During the quarter, Borders Group completed the rollout of its Title Sleuth program to all superstores. The program gives store customers the opportunity to search the company's database of 700,000 titles for books that may not be in stock at a particular outlet. The company also launched a test in 10 stores of Paperchase departments featuring stationery and sideline products.

Second-quarter sales at Books-A-Million rose 15.2% to $89.9 million. Comparable-store sales, which had been slumping at the retailer, were up 5.4% in the most recent period. With the sales gain, BAM eked out a net income of $19,000 in the quarter, compared to a net loss of $514,000 in last year's second quarter. The highlight of the quarter was an agreement with Wal-Mart that makes BAM the giant chain's exclusive distributor of books to Wal-Mart's online customers.

For the first half of fiscal 2000, Borders Group reported a sales increase of 14.5% to $1.25 billion, with superstore sales up 23.5% to $833.2 million, while sales at Walden fell 1.9% to $370.9 million. Sales at Borders.com totaled $6.5 million. The chain had a net loss of $3.3 million in the period, compared to a net income of $6.2 million in the first half of fiscal 1999. Net income from its retail operations fell to $4.4 million from $10.1 million, while the loss from Borders.com increased to $7.7 million from $3.9 million.

At BAM, six-month sales increased 14.8% to $175 million, with the company reporting a net income of $329,000 compared to a loss of $504,000 in the same period of fiscal 1999.