This morning, Scholastic reported its fourth-quarter and fiscal 2014 results and fiscal 2015 outlook.
“We are pleased with our performance in fiscal 2014, a year in which we grew sales and profits in the Company’s major businesses in the U.S. before the impact of one-time, mostly non-cash, charges,” said Scholastic CEO and Chairman Dick Robinson. “We began the year with the successful introduction of our new innovative educational technology products, including the ground-breaking math intervention program MATH 180®, that, together with our aligned professional development and services offerings, further strengthened our ability to offer comprehensive solutions to raise the bar on performance in schools and classrooms. Our reenergized book clubs hit stride in the second half of the year with new mailing and incentive marketing strategies that, combined with an expanded line of popular and engaging titles, resulted in higher value orders and increased ordering frequency. In Trade, new bestsellers drove frontlist growth, although annual trade revenues were down slightly, as expected, on lower Hunger Games trilogy sales. We also achieved manufacturing and distribution efficiencies across our businesses over the course of the year.”
Other key highlights from today's press release:
- 2014 earnings per share (EPS) increased +43% to $1.36, on +2% revenue growth.
- Excluding special one-time items, 2014 EPS climbed +51% to $1.84, exceeding outlook.
- Book Clubs revenue rose +12% in the year on higher engagement levels and popular titles.
- Ed Tech sales grew +9%, led by award-winning new MATH 180® intervention program.
- Minecraft™ books top bestseller lists with more releases planned for fiscal 2015.
You can read the full release here.
