Scholastic reports operating revenue up

9 September 2014 Books+Publishing

Scholastic has reported global profits of US$107 million (A$115 million) for the 2014 financial year, an increase of 31% on the previous year, when it reported profits of US$81.5 million (A$87.9 million).

The company’s revenue of US$1.82 billion (A$1.96 billion) is up two percent from US$1.79 billion (A$1.93 billion) in 2013.

Operating income for the year was down seven percent to US$63.1 million (A$61.1 million) from US$67.9 million (A$73.3 million) in 2013, however ‘excluding special one-time items’ it increased by 31%, from US$81.5 million (A$87.9 million) to US$107 million (A$115.4 million).

The company reported that revenue in its ‘international’ segment was down, from US$441.1 million (A$475.9 million) in 2013 to US$414.3 million (A$447 million) in 2014. Operating income for the segment was down to US$30.8 million (A$33.2 million) from US$39.8 million (A$42.9 million) in 2013 ‘as a result of lower revenues, including a decline in “Hunger Games” trilogy sales, and the higher cost of US dollar-dominated product, combined with higher levels of investment in expanded education product development in India and Singapore’.

Looking ahead to 2015, the company said it expected growth in its international business to be ‘partially offset by increased investment in new education products and the build-out of the sales organisation in Asia’.

As reported by Publishers Weekly, among the one-time charges that affected the company’s global results was a US$14.6 million (A$15.8 million) charge ‘related to Storia’s operating system apps that will no longer be supported as Scholastic plans to make the transition to a streaming model for Storia’. Scholastic also took US$10.8 million (A$11.7 million) in severance charges.

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