Monday, May 11, 2009

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Lose Credit Rating

Speculation about the financial health of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt took another turn for the worst when Moody's debt rating agency removed its' rating on HHM's debt. According to the report in the Irish Times the action by Moody's will impact virtually all the company's debt and it likely to both further raise the cost of their borrowing (although they were already at Caa3 with a negative note) and increase the expectation the company will default. From the Irish Times report:

Moody’s said that it took into account “the business risk and competitive position of the company versus others within its industry; the capital structure and financial risk of the company; the projected financial and operating performance of the company over the near-to-intermediate term, and management’s track record and tolerance for risk”.

Last month, Moody’s downgraded some of HMH’s debts to Caa3 from Caa1, and put it on a negative outlook. The move meant that it classed the company’s debts as high risk.

Earlier this year, long time HMH executive and current CEO Tony Lucki retired and was replaced by Barry O'Callaghan.

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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

HMH did not pay out 2008 commissions to their HMH School Division. Payouts were initially due end of March 2009, then postponed to end of April 2009 and once again postponed to end of May 2009. Will hardworking individuals with a solid written bonus plan not get their financial due?

Anonymous said...

Are you for real, paying bonuses....
That is like saying HMH is a successful company.
The only bonus you will get, is you might get a severance package when youu get laid off. Oh wait, that is unless useless asshole O'Callahan doesn't file bankruptcy, and hides in Afganistan with Biin Laden