MAIN NEWS HEADLINES
November 8 – November 15, 2007 Edition
S&S Reports
9% Sales Increase
In Third Quarter
NEW YORK, NY/11/02/2007–Simon & Schuster, the publishing division now owned by CBS Corporation, saw a 9% increase in revenues for the third quarter of 2007 to $214 million from $197.4 million for the same prior-year period. The increase was attributed principally to robust sales for top-selling titles including Become A Better You by Joel Osteen and the continued success of The Secret by Rhonda Byrne.
Operating income for the publishing division increased 6% to $21.6 million from $20.3 million, reflecting the revenue increase and lower bad debt expense partially offset by higher royalty expenses, employee-related costs, volume-driven advertising and selling expenses and digital archive costs.
Profit growth slowed in the third quarter and likely will do so in the fourth quarter as a result of higher costs including those for converting 13,000 titles to digital format by the end of 2007. Overall outlook for the fourth quarter remains on track, according to CEO Jack Romanos, who will return at the end of this year.
Sales for the first nine months of the year were up by 16% to $634.8 million, and profits rose a whopping 90% to $61.1 million.
Meanwhile, parent company CBS reported net Earnings From Continuing Operations Up 5% to $340 Million, and free cash flow of $1.59 billion for the first nine months of 2007.
“CBS continues to position itself for future growth during this time of extraordinary opportunity,” said Sumner Redstone, Executive Chairman, CBS Corporation. He praised the CBS management team for having done an exceptional job of creating and distributing compelling, mass-appeal programming to the growing list of platforms around the world while expanding CBS’s new media properties. Redstone said the company will continue to refine its asset portfolio and aggressively pursue higher growth businesses that complement our core operations, like the purchase of SignStorey, a leading distributor of programming and advertising content to retail stores in the out-of-home market. At the same time, CBS has further invested in the CBS Audience Network, CBS.com and CBS Mobile, and online extensions of its radio and TV stations, “all of which play an important role in building audiences which are attractive to a broad range of existing and new advertisers,” said Redstone.
CBS revenues of $3.3 billion for the third quarter of 2007 decreased 3% from $3.4 billion for the same quarter last year, reflecting lower television license fees, the impact of radio and television station divestitures and the absence of UPN, which ceased broadcasting in September 2006.
The Company is positioned to deliver rates of growth as follows: low single-digit growth in revenues, mid single-digit growth in operating income and high single-digit growth in earnings per share.
About CBS Corporation
CBS Corporation (NYSE: CBS.A and CBS) is a mass media company with constituent parts that reach back to the beginnings of the broadcast industry, as well as newer businesses that operate on the leading edge of the media industry. The Company, through its many and varied operations, combines broad reach with well-positioned local businesses, all of which provide it with an extensive distribution network by which it serves audiences and advertisers in all 50 states and key international markets.
