Barnes & Noble Education: 3Q Results Show COVID Impact

Barnes & Noble Education reported their third quarter results on March 9th, showing a predictable decrease in revenues due to Covid.  Third quarter sales ($411MM) were off 18% versus 2020 which contributed to a year to date negative revenue ($1,211MM) variance of 24%.  EBITDA for the period showed a loss of $(48)MM versus $(1.7)MM in 2020. The year to date loss is $(87)MM versus income of $2.1 in 2020.  The company indicated they took a write down of $27MM for store fixtures.

It is worth noting that revenue results for 3Q 2020 were off 8% for the quarter and 6% year to date versus 2019 showing that the COVID impact has been significantly worse in recent periods.  In the 2019 3Q filing, revenues for the quarter were $550mm which indicates revenue has fallen $140mm over two years.  Year to date revenues in 2019 were $1.6B versus $1.2B in 2021.

(See Follett release below).

As this chart shows however, recent investors might be happy with share performance:

 

Additional details from their press release: 

Operational highlights for the third quarter 2021:

•Entered into a long-term strategic omnichannel merchandising partnership with FLC, forging an alliance with the two online and offline leaders in the licensed sports and emblematic merchandise category. Under the terms of the agreement, Fanatics and Lids together made a $15 million strategic equity investment in BNED

•BNC First Day® year-over-year revenue increased 107%, benefiting from the accelerated move to digital courseware.

•Reached agreements with 31 campus stores to date, which includes new business accounts, to support the BNC First Day® Complete program in Fall Term 2021, representing over 160,000 in total undergraduate enrollment; up from 12 campus stores and 43,000 in total undergraduate enrollment in Fall Term 2020.

•Continue to work with a significant number of additional campuses to secure agreements to launch First Day Complete for Fall Term 2021.

•Gained over 210,000 gross subscribers for the bartleby® suite of services year to date, with DSS revenue increasing 11.8% for the same period.

•Announced agreement with Wolfram|Alpha to develop a math solver as a new feature in the Company’s bartleby suite of solutions. Powered by Wolfram|Alpha’s best-in-class computation engine, the math solver will allow students to access an interactive digital calculator that provides real-time, step-by-step explanations for even the most advanced math problems.

•Continued to attract new clients and generate new business growth, signing over $84 million in net new business to date this fiscal year and expanding BNED’s footprint by 54 BNC institutions and 31 K-12 schools.

 

Related news from Higher Ed retailer Follett:  Web Sales Show Rapid Growth