Scholastic Corporation has reported financial results for the Company’s fiscal 2016 third quarter ended February 29, 2016. You can read the complete press release here.
Revenue as reported in the third quarter was $366.0 million, compared to $346.5 million a year ago. Excluding the foreign exchange translation impact of $9.0 million in the quarter, revenue was $375.0 million, an increase of more than 8% versus the prior year period. The operating loss for the third quarter of fiscal year 2016 was $16.4 million compared to an operating loss of $24.7 million in the prior year period. The third quarter is a lower revenue quarter for the Company in which it typically records a loss.
The Company reported a third quarter loss per share from continuing operations of $0.21, versus a loss of $0.48 in the prior year period. Each period’s results reflect one-time, mostly non-cash expenses of $0.15 per share. Excluding these one-time items, third quarter loss per share from continuing operations was $0.06 versus $0.33 in the prior year period.
The year-over-year improvement in third quarter operating results was largely driven by strong sales in children’s books, especially in trade and reading clubs. Core trade frontlist titles continued to perform well, along with the full-color illustrated edition of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone and Harry Potter-themed coloring books. School reading clubs also saw higher order volume in the quarter. Higher sales of the Company’s classroom books and classroom magazines underlined the importance of the education business, which continues to be a growth area for the Company.
“We were very pleased with our third quarter performance and continued strong execution in our children’s book and education businesses, where our creative content and distribution channels continue to bring the power of reading to children in their classrooms and at home. Also, we regained momentum in Canada, which is now showing year-over-year growth in the quarter,” commented Richard Robinson, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer. “We are well-positioned for further growth in children’s books with a strong pipeline of new trade titles, including the recently announced script book Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, and in Education, where our comprehensive literacy solutions are leading to broader partnerships with schools throughout the country. Given the strength in children’s books, Scholastic is making additional investments to support a growing frontlist of exceptional titles, authors and licensed properties, and we have revised our free cash flow guidance for the current fiscal year to reflect these and other new investments.”
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