You are viewing your 1 free article this month. Login to read more articles.
Falling school spending and lower than expected sales through book clubs has lead Scholastic's global business to lower its outlook for the financial year.
Net income at the children's publisher for the three months to 30th November increased 35.0% to $74.9m. Sales during the same period increased 2.3% to $675.7m. Its children's book publishing and distribution sector had sales increase 5% to $387.3m although operating income dropped 10% to $97.3m. In its international business, sales increased 11% to $145.9m with operating income jumping 71% to $25.3m.
Richard Robinson, chairman and c.e.o. of Scholastic, said: "While positive, these results were below our plan, reflecting lower spending by school districts and lower than expected revenue in Clubs.
"For the remainder of the fiscal year, we expect sustained higher service revenue and new products will enable us to hold sales in Scholastic Education level with those a year ago. In addition, we believe increased online ordering, as well as the effects of this fall's increased promotion, will generate modest growth in Clubs during the remainder of the year.
"We have lowered our outlook for fiscal 2011 based on these factors, but remain optimistic about Scholastic's opportunity for profitable growth, as we build on our unique positions in children's books and educational technology."