Friday, February 27, 2009

Harlequin Reports a Strong Quarter

From yesterday's Publishers Lunch:
"Harlequin recorded a strong fourth quarter, with sales of $126 million (CA)[Canadian] up over 18 percent from a year ago, and EBITDA [Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and amortization] of $18.4 million up more than 30 percent. Good results were made even stronger by the decline of the Canadian dollar against the US dollar, and they say that 'Harlequin's revenues, to date, have not been significantly affected by the global, and in particular, U.S. economic situation' . . ."
In the press release, Torstar (Harlequin's parent company) reported:
North America Direct-To-Consumer [the famous book clubs] operating profits were down $0.6 million in 2008. The traditional direct-to-consumer business continued to face the challenge of a declining customer base which was reflected in the lower revenues.
Torstar's CEO and President Robert Prichard had this to say about Harlequin:
“Harlequin finished the year strongly with another good
quarter that drove earnings for the year up 11 percent. This is the third year in a row of business growth for Harlequin which is making important gains in both print and digital products. We are very pleased with Harlequin’s performance and prospects."
Tomorrow I'll do a post analyzing Harlequin's success in the midst of otherwise dismal publishing news.

2 comments:

Liane Spicer said...

It's heartening to read some good news on the publishing front for a change. Are people buying more romance novels than ever? Looking forward to your analysis.

Maya Reynolds said...

WT: Thanks for your comment. I don't think the answer has anything to do with readers reading more romance. If that was the case, all the other publishers producing romances would be do great as well, and we know they are not.

I think the answer is within Harlequin themselves. I'll talk more about it tomorrow.

Warm regards,

Maya