Scholastic narrows 1Q loss on tech, book sales

Scholastic narrows fiscal 1st-quarter loss with technology and children's books sales

• On 8:08 am EDT, Thursday September 24, 2009

NEW YORK (AP) -- Book publisher Scholastic Corp. posted a narrower loss for its fiscal first quarter Thursday, helped by improving educational technology sales to schools as well as children's books.

The company, which typically posts a loss during the June-August period, lost $23 million, or 63 cents per share. That compares with a loss of $49 million, or $1.30 per share, a year ago.

Including results from discontinued operations, the company said its loss per share in the most recent quarter came to 68 cents per share, compared with $1.13 a year earlier.

Sales climbed 14 percent to $315.6 million.

"Scholastic's strong first quarter puts the company firmly on plan to achieve significantly higher earnings and free cash flow this fiscal year," CEO Richard Robinson said in a statement.

Revenue for the company's educational publishing division jumped 29 percent to $148.7 million. Children's book publishing revenue grew 25 percent to $76.2 million.

On the other hand, international sales dropped 10 percent to $75.6 million. And media, licensing and advertising revenue fell 6 percent to $15.1 million.