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The release of the latest Hunger Games film, backlist titles such as Harry Potter and success with its new educational programmes led Scholastic to revenue of $623.2m (£381m) in the second quarter of the year, up 1.5% from the same period a year ago.
However, Scholastic's international segment—which includes Canada, Australia, the UK, and parts of Asia—saw revenue fall 6% year-on-year from $143.7m (£87.8m) to $135.6m (£82.9m) in the quarter ending 30th November, “primarily due to an unfavourable foreign exchange impact of $7.5m (£4.5m)”.
The company said the decrease was “partially offset by strong performance in Asia, where revenues rose by approximately 19%, before the impact of foreign exchange, on sales of education and direct-to-home products”.
Scholastic reported Children's Book Publishing and Distribution revenue was $352.1m (£215m), up 1.4% from $347.4m (£212.4m) a year ago, while revenue for Educational Technology and Services increased by 17% to $60.9m (£37m), compared to $52.2m (£31.9m) in the prior year period, which Scholastic largely put down to “higher sales of educational technology products in the current quarter”.
Chairman, president and c.e.o. Richard Robinson said: "Scholastic continues to be a critical source for books that support children's independent reading in school and at home. In Trade, excitement for the 'Catching Fire' film sparked an increase in The Hunger Games trilogy book and e-book sales following its release in November. Our multi-platform series, Spirit Animals, also did very well in the quarter, as did franchise titles such as Harry Potter.”
For the first half of the 2013/14 financial year, Scholastic’s revenue was $899.5m (£550m), down from $906.9million (£554.6m) in the prior year period.
Scholastic said: “These results are mainly attributable to Hunger Games trilogy sales in print, digital, and audio formats in the U.S. and major international markets, including Canada, Australia and the UK, that were strong, but lower than the exceptional sales in the same period last year.”