Estimated read time: Less than a minute
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
Publisher Houghton Mifflin achieved USD1.28bn in total sales in 2005, representing a 5.2% increase, while its operating income increased from USD21.9m to USD59.3m.
However the company experienced an increase in interest expense, resulting in a USD62m net loss for the year. This was down from the USD70.4m loss reported for 2004.
The company's educational publishing segments drove the revenue gain, while sales in the publisher's trade and reference group declined by 13.4% to USD128.3m.
Sales in the trade group fell 31.2% to USD32.7m in the fourth quarter, compared to the fourth quarter in 2004 which saw the release of the film version of The Polar Express, boosting sales of Houghton Mifflin's book. The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, a Oprah Winfrey pick, also helped increase sales in 2004.
The company's college division sales increased 3.3% to USD228.3m, while sales in the elementary/high school group increased 8.9% to USD925.5m, though both increases were below industry average gains as measured by the Association of American Publishers (AAP), Publishers Weekly reported.
Houghton Mifflin expects sales growth in the low single-digit range this year.
(C)2000-2006 M2 Communications Ltd
