News
EBIT rose by € 1 million in 2015 over 2014 in Lagardere’s
publishing group, while revenue rose 10.1% ( 1.7% when
extraordinary items are excluded, such as the impact of foreign
exchange). The company’s U.S. subsidiary, Hachette Book
SOURCE: NIELSEN BOOKSCAN AND PUBLISHERS WEEKLY. NIELSEN BOOKSCAN’S U.S. CONSUMER MARKE T PANEL COVERS APPROXIMATELY 80% OF THE PRINT BOOK MARKET AND CONTINUES TO GRO W.
Unit sales of print books rose 9% in the week ended Mar. 20, 2016, compared to the similar week
in 2015, at outlets that report to Nielsen BookScan. Since some grocery chain retailers were unable
to report sales for the week, total sales and sales through the mass merchandiser channel skewed
lower than normal. The absence of data from the grocers also had a significant negative effect on
sales reporting of mass market paperbacks, since that format is popular at those stores. With
Easter coming up on March 27, the juvenile categories had a strong sales week: unit sales in
juvenile nonfiction were up 24% over the similar week in 2015, and fiction sales were ahead 14%.
Four Easter books and two religion titles were among the top 10 titles in juvenile nonfiction. Patricia
Pingry landed two books on the bestsellers list, in the fourth and fifth spots. Her Story of Easter
and The Easter Story sold about 11,500 and 8,000 copies, respectively, in the week. In juvenile
fiction, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs jumped up to first place,
selling more than 20,000 copies. Happy Easter, Mouse by Laura Joffe Numeroff sold more than
18,000 copies in the week and Peppa’s Easter Egg Hunt sold more than 12,000 copies, putting
them in third and seventh place, respectively, on the juvenile fiction bestsellers list. Unit sales in
adult fiction fell 5% compared to the week ended Mar. 22, 2015, although two new hardcovers by
bestselling authors headed the category bestsellers list. Private Paris by James Patterson and
Mark Sullivan was #1, selling more than 30,000 copies, and Danielle Steel’s Property of a Noble
Woman was #2, selling more than 24,000 copies.
MAR. 22, MAR. 20, CHGE CHGE
2015 2016* WEEK YTD
Adult Non;ction
4,091 4,611 13% 12%
Adult Fiction
2,332 2,220 -5 - 2
Juvenile Non;ction 937 1,160 24 14
Juvenile Fiction
3,008 3,429 14 5
Unit Sales of Print Books by Format
MAR. 22, MAR. 20, CHGE CHGE
2015 2016* WEEK YTD
Hardcover
2,738 3,020 10% 7%
Trade Paperback 5,785 6,644 15 9
Mass Market Paperback
1,320 953 - 28 - 9
Board Books 659 872 32 20
Audio
78
61 - 22 - 14
Unit Sales of Print Books by Channel
MAR. 22, MAR. 20, CHGE CHGE
2015 2016* WEEK YTD
Total
10,741 11,761 9% 7%
Mass Merch./Other**
1,935 1,981 4 - 4
Retail & Club
8,806 9,781 11 9
*TO TALS FOR 2016 INCLUDE UNITS SOLD THROUGH FAMILY CHRISTIAN STORES. NO SALES THROUGH
FAMILY CHRISTIAN ARE INCLUDED IN 2015.
**SEVERAL GROCERY CHAIN RETAILERS WERE NO T ABLE TO REPORT SALES FOR THE WEEK ENDED
MAR. 20, 2016.
Group, finished the year with a small revenue decline of 0.3%.
According to Lagardere, HBG had a “disappointing” profit
performance, which it attributed to lower e-book sales. Like
S&S, HBG said lower e-book sales had been largely offset by
gains in sales of print books last year. HBG represented 25% of
Lagardere publishing overall revenue (about $600 million) up
from 24% in 2014. Revenue at HBG will certainly grow in
2016 thanks in part to its purchase of the publishing business
of Perseus Books Group which is due to close at the end of
March.
EBITDA fell 13.8% in 2015 at HarperCollins and with it the
publisher’s margin dropped to 11.4% from 13.7% in 2014. HC
completed its acquisition of Harlequin on Aug. 1, 2014, which
helped lift revenue in 2015 by 3.6%. Sales in the second half of
calendar 2015 (HC operates on a fiscal year ending June 30),
were down 2.3% as HC faced difficult comparisons to the last
six months of 2014, when the Divergent series and American
Sniper were huge hits. E-book sales also softened in the second
half of 2015, but print sales were strong over the 2015 holiday
period, CEO Brian Murray said.
The HMH trade division had a tough 2015, as adjusted
EBITDA fell 39.4%. HMH attributed the decline in earnings
to higher costs, including higher royalty costs, which HMH
said reflected a change in “product mix.” The revenue gain was
led by higher sales of frontlist cooking titles, offset by prior year
strong sales of titles such as the bestselling What If? and The
Giver. —Jim Milliot
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OPERATING PERFORMANCES, 2013–2015
2013 2014 2015 Change
2014–2015
Penguin Random House (€ in millions)
Total Sales € 2,654.0 € 3,324.0 € 3,317.0 11.8%
Operating EBITDA €363.0 €452.0 €557.0 23.2%
Margin
13.7% 13.6% 15.0%
Lagardere Publishing (€ in millions)
Total Sales € 2,066.0 € 2,004.0 € 2,206.0 10.1%
Recurring EBIT €223.0 €197.0 €198.0 0.1%
Margin
10.8% 9.8% 9.0%
HarperCollins ($ in millions)
Total Sales $1,359.0 $1590.0 $1,647.0 3.6%
EBITDA $162.0 $218.0 $188.0 - 13.8%
Margin
11.9% 13.7% 11.4%
Simon & Schuster ($ in millions)
Total Sales $809.0 $778.0 $780.0 0.3%
Operating Income $106.0 $101.0 $114.0 12.9%
Margin
13.1% 13.0% 14.6%
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Trade ($ in millions)
Total Sales $170.7 $163.2 $164.9 1.1%
Adjusted EBITDA $24.4 $12.7 $7.7 - 39.4%
Margin
14.3% 7.8% 4.7%