Publishing News
Financials
April 1-15, 2005 Edition FINANCIALS Barnes & Noble
Anounces Repurchase
of Common Shares
New York, NY/03/24/2005Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS), the worlds largest bookseller, today announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a new share repurchase program of up to $200 million of its common shares. Share repurchases under this program may be made through open market and privately negotiated transactions from time to time and in such amounts as management deems appropriate. The new share repurchase program follows the companys previous $250 million share repurchase program, which was recently completed in full.
ABOUT BARNES & NOBLE, INC.
Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS), the world’s largest bookseller and a Fortune 500 company, operates 820 bookstores in 50 states. For the third year in a row, the company is the nations top retail brand for quality, according to the EquiTrend® Brand Study by Harris Interactive®. Barnes & Noble conducts its online business through Barnes & Noble.com ( www.bn.com), one of the Webs largest e-commerce sites and the number-one brand among e-commerce companies, according to the latest EquiTrend survey. In addition to its retail operations, Barnes & Noble is one of the largest book publishers in the world. Its subsidiary, Sterling Publishing, publishes over 1,100 new titles a year and has an active list of over 5,000 titles.
General information on Barnes & Noble, Inc. can be obtained via the Internet by visiting the company’s corporate Web site: http://www.barnesandnobleinc.com.
John Wiley & Sons
Reports 15% Operating
Income Growth in Q3
Hoboken, NJ/03/05/05John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (NYSE:JWa) (NYSE:JWb) has announced that third quarter revenue increased 7%, or 5% excluding foreign currency gains, to $258.4 million from $242.4 million in the prior year. Operating income advanced 15% to $50.4 million from $43.9 million in the prior year. Earnings per diluted share for the third quarter increased 18% to $0.53 from $0.45 excluding a net tax benefit reported in last year’s third quarter. Excluding the aforementioned tax benefit and foreign currency gains the increase was 13%.
For the first nine months of fiscal year 2005, Wiley’s revenue of $732.4 million advanced 6%, or 4% excluding the effect of foreign currency gains. Operating income for the nine-month period of $121.3 million increased 7% from $113.9 million in the prior year. Earnings per diluted share for the first nine months increased 6% from $1.20 to $1.27 excluding the net tax benefit reported in last year’s third quarter. Excluding the aforementioned tax benefit and foreign currency gains the increase was 3%.
“Wiley’s third quarter results were driven primarily by the solid performance of our Professional/Trade business and strong year-on-year growth in our international companies. The continued strength of our global Scientific, Technical and Medical business also contributed to the growth. The only disappointment in the quarter was the performance of our Higher Education business, which was below expectations due to challenging market conditions,” said William J. Pesce, President & Chief Executive Officer.
Mr. Pesce concluded, “Based on year-to-date results, leading indicators and market conditions, we anticipate full-year growth in revenue and earnings per diluted share of 4-6% in fiscal year 2005. Excluding estimated expenses associated with Sarbanes-Oxley compliance of $0.03 per diluted share, estimated full-year growth would be 6-8%.”
During the third quarter of this fiscal year, the Company acquired 444,300 Class A common shares under an authorized stock buyback program at an average price of $33.22 per share. On February 4th, Wiley repurchased one million shares of its Class A common shares from several entities associated with the Bass group of Fort Worth, Texas at a price of $32.45 per share.
In January, FORTUNE magazine named Wiley one of the 100 Best Companies to Work For. Wiley was the only publishing company selected and one of two companies in New Jersey that made the list. As part of its evaluation of Wiley’s culture and practices, FORTUNE randomly surveyed 350 of our colleagues. In a press release announcing Wiley’s selection, Mr. Pesce stated, “We are honored that Wiley has been selected by FORTUNE magazine as one of the 100 Best Companies to Work For. Wiley is a very special placea closely knit global community in which talent, integrity, and commitment are valued as critical to our success.”
