ACAP is Implemented

At a conference in New York yesterday, World Association of Newspapers President Gavin O'Reilly updated the content community on the status of the ACAP initiative. ACAP is a technology that updates the manner in which web search robots search and index material on the web. The ACAP protocol aims to create a more balanced approach to gathering web content and enabling content owners to 'publish' specific rights information applicable to their content which can then be read by the search tool. Rather than limit the amount of free content available to web users, content owners participating in this initiative believe the ultimate outcome will be to make more content available by bringing content from behind subscription walls.

All content owners are being encouraged to implement version 1 of the protocol and Times Online announced that they have implemented ACAP on their site. From the Associated Press:

The proposal, unveiled by a consortium of publishers at the global headquarters of The Associated Press, seeks to have those extra commands — and more — apply across the board. Sites, for instance, could try to limit how long search engines may retain copies in their indexes, or tell the crawler not to follow any of the links that appear within a Web page. The current system doesn't give sites "enough flexibility to express our terms and conditions on access and use of content," said Angela Mills Wade, executive director of the European Publishers Council, one of the organizations behind the proposal. "That is not surprising. It was invented in the 1990s and things move on."

Personally, I was initially skeptical about this initiative but they have delivered on their time table, retained their broad support and even have some in the search community actively supporting the initiative.

ACAP organizers tested their system with French search engine Exalead Inc. but had only informal discussions with others. Google, Yahoo and Microsoft Corp. sent representatives to the announcement, and O'Reilly said their "lack of public endorsement has not meant any lack of involvement by them." Danny Sullivan, editor in chief of the industry Web site Search Engine Land, said robots.txt "certainly is long overdue for some improvements."

Associated Press

Riverdeep Syndication Gone Awry

As mentioned a few weeks ago, Riverdeeps banks (Credit Suisse, Lehman Brothers and Citigroup) conducted a roadshow to sell the debt associated with the Riverdeep acquisition of Harcourt. According to the Irish Times, the banks have suspended this process and will hang on tooth and nail to the debt themselves until the markets improve.

This will have limited impact on the operations of Riverdeep/Houghton Mifflin and while this is not positive news it could only reflect a desire for the banks to maintain a decent margin on the syndication rather than judgements about the risk of the underlying loans. At least that's what I would be saying if I were Riverdeep.

Books A Million Reports

BAM reported comp store revenues up 2% for the quarter and up 6.3% to $117.7mm over all. The Company reported a net loss of $0.5mm, or $0.03 per diluted share, for the third quarter of fiscal 2008, compared with a net loss of $0.2mm. YTD revenues are up 6% to $366.8mm and net income of $4.7mm is up $0.9mm versus the same period last year.

From the press release commenting on the results, Sandra B. Cochran, President and Chief Executive Officer, said,

“We were very pleased with our sales results for the quarter; however, operating costs for the period, driven primarily by an increase in heath care expense, exceeded our plan. Looking forward, our fourth quarter best seller lineup is solid, and we are focused on executing our merchandising and marketing plans for the holiday season.”

The closely held company also announced that its Board of directors approved a quarterly cash dividend of $0.09 per share. The quarterly dividend is payable on December 26, 2007, to stockholders of record at the close of business on December 11, 2007.

Borders Australia

The Australian Competition Commission anticipates making a final decision on the merger between Angus & Robertson and Borders Australia by December 19. In the meantime they have requested additional comments and specific requests related to several items.

The commission suggests that the reduction in competition could result in decreased discounting and notes that Borders promotions are 'particularly innovative' with 'weekly discounts' and 3/2 offers. (Gosh!) The ACC invites comments that counter or support its' contention that a reduction in competitive tension would reduce discounting to a wide range of titles.(The commisson is also asking to what degree loyalty programs are important in supporting discounts.)

The merged entity will concentrate more than 25% of all retail revenue for the industry and they are looking for comment regarding how A&R/Borders may weild this power. Principally will the retailer be able to negotiate more agressively for better discounts and will this influence publication plans by publishers? With respect to this item the commission is interested in consumer research regarding purchasing behavior. (Good luck.)

Lastly, the commission requests information about local market competition even explicitly asking what the impact has been of the entry of Borders into the Australian market. They remain interested in the impact of smaller local markets of the entry of 'large format' retail stores.

There doesn't appear to be too much consideration on the impact of international web retailing such as amazon.com or b&n.com. Both of these retailers are well known to book buyers in this market. (While they note the merged entity will represent more than 25% of the market it is unlikely that they have any idea how much retail business is off-shore, and it is likely to be considerable especially given territory rights issues that can limit selection and the weak US dollar).

It looks like this merger will be approved: Whether there will be any constraints placed on the merged entity remains to be seen.

Broadcasters Unite!

What if CBS, NBC and ABC launched a joint web-based broadcast portal? Highly unlikely you say? Well, in the UK pundits might also have dismissed out of hand the notion that the BBC, ITV and Channel 4 could ever agree on anything let alone jointly developing a web portal for distribution of their content. Today these three companies announced they would launch such a web site in the early part of 2008. All three have existing web content portals and both BBC and ITV intend to keep theirs going in the short term. Earlier in 2007, the BBC launched their i-player client which has not been as successful as the hype that presaged its launch would have suggested. Residents outside the UK are unable to use the i-player and it is assumed the tri-company web site will be off-limits to non-UK users.

The web activities of BBC and ITV place them significantly ahead of the network broadcasters in the US. One aspect of their business model which has made their experimentation with web distribution possible is that the UK companies generally own the content they broadcast. This is not the case in the US although in recent years the networks have built production capability.

The collaboration in the UK will be watched closely and while it may be spun as a consumer bonus - having one location to access the content from the nations' primary broadcasters - the reality could be more prosaic. The costs of building and maintaining a portal for this content could be extreme and each would ultimately be in a race to augment their content with content from other providers. Why not join forces, pool resources and reduce the market for third (fourth) party content? It makes a lot of sense especially in a market that isn't that large to begin with.

In the early 1990's Sky beat the traditional broadcasters into new distribution territory and the broadcasters had no solution. As a result, they lost out on a vast expansion of the consumer broadcast market (satellite). In developing this new collective content portal they could be setting themselves up to be meaningful players in a potentially much larger market place for distributed content.

When Newscorp launched Sky these players were warming the bench but this announcement may enable them to have a role in the future of television.

Not OK Computer

My trusty laptop committed suicide over the weekend. There will be a brief interruption to our service as I decide what my options are. Sadly my life seems to revolve around the machine and with its loss I seem at times to be entirely untethered to temporal life. The machine holds my calendar of course but the daily rhythm of email - and there is one - has been disrupted as well and as a result I feel I like a prisoner on being suddenly set free finds the lack of regimentation impossible to deal with. This is a very sad situation and the sooner I get a replacement the better. Help.

Quebecor Share Debacle

Quebecor the big printing rival to RH Donnelly cancelled a $250mm share sale and a related $500mm debt issue yesterday after the offers received less than full participation from the markets. From the Globe and Mail:

Shares dropped from $5.10 to $2.80 in the past seven days - this was a $40 stock five short years ago. Much of the drop over the past week can be traced to short sellers who sold, with the intention of buying back Quebecor World shares by participating in the equity or debenture sale. If these same short sellers own the convertible preferred shares, they have even more to gain from a lower stock price, as they will get more equity when they swap the preferred shares for common. Long-time Quebecor World shareholders seemed unwilling to step in and support the stock over the past seven days, which should be a cause for some soul-searching at head office.

According to the newspaper, the company will now have to completely rethink how they refinance this company which is debt ridden despite selling their loss making European operations earlier this year. The performance of Quebcor compares unfavorably with the performance of RH Donnelly who appear to have weathered fundamental changes in the printing industry and intense competition from Asia to post consistently good results. Donnelly has also spent the summer successfully recapitalizing the company.

Barnes & Noble Report 3rd Quarter

Barnes & Noble reported a solid same store sales increase of 2.6% and a 14.5% increase in dot com revenues for the third quarter. Gross revenues exceeded $1.2billion which reflected a 5.7% increase over the same period last year. Net income for the period was $4.4million or $0.07 per share but reflected an after tax benefit of $6.2million ($0.09/share). Excluding the one time effect, the company had a third quarter loss of $1.8milion or $0.03/share which was was "better than guidance of a loss of $0.06 to $0.10 per share."

From the press release:

“The company’s sales continued to perform at the higher end of expectations, due in part to strong sales of new releases and bestsellers, which combined with a better than expected gross margin rate enabled the company to outperform its third quarter earnings expectations,” said Steve Riggio, chief executive officer of Barnes & Noble, Inc. “In addition, we are encouraged by the sales trends at Barnes & Noble.com that began earlier this year and continued through the third quarter, in which we launched a newly designed website.”

The company also raised guidance for the full year (which should be anticipated given this and the second quarter performance). The company now expects full-year GAAP earnings per share to be in a range of $1.91 to $2.09, compared to previous guidance of $1.69 to $1.87.

B&N's stock price has fluctuated over the past six months from a mid-year high of $43 to its current $36. On the basis of these reported results the share price jumped on Tuesday. In contrast to Borders share performance and market cap ($715million), B&N has a market cap of over $2.4billion. Looking at that comparison with Borders may well make some private equity bankers sweat in anticipation.

Press release

Not Your Ordinary Publishing Contest

There has been a veritable explosion of publishing contests in the past two years, all with the intention of seeking that needle in the hay barn, the next great book. In contrast this contest announced by Scholastic and Coldwell Banker of all people seems to have little point -at least as far as its relevance to publishing. Perhaps I am missing something but it does seem to stretch the logic of strategic alliances very thin.

Coldwell Banker Real Estate Llc Announces The Launch Of Its Third "my Home: The American Dream" Contest. In Collaboration With Scholastic, The Global Children's Publishing, Education And Media Company, Coldwell Banker® Invites Students In Kindergarten Through Eighth Grade To Tell Their Personal Stories, Through Images And Words, About How Their Houses, Apartments, Or Condominiums Are Not Just Places They Live, But Homes Where Dreams Are Shared And Memories Are Made.

(Mrs PND would be going crazy with all the caps in that press release).

I'm not really a fan of similar competitions but this one appears to be pure publicity stunt and the advantage for Scholastic escapes me.

Borders Reports Improvement

While the sale of their Australia and New Zealand operations is still unconfirmed despite spurious reports to the contary, their most likely acquirer has cleared regulatory approval in New Zealand. Pacific Equity Partners has recieved clearance from the Commerce Commission indicating that they do not believe a combination of Whitcoulls and Borders would decrease competition in the NZ book market. Next up is Australia's Competition commission which may rule in early December. An announcement on the sale is expected any day.

Borders announced third-quarter results after the market close yesterday reporting a revenue increase of 5.3% to $805.2 million from $771 million a year earlier. Analysts' consensus estimates were expecting higher revenues ($831million) and better operating performance so we will see how the stock does on Wednesday. Their net income loss for the period included the previously announced one time charge for the sale of their UK operations ($116.5million) and thus the loss for the quarter was $161.1million or $2.74 per share. This compares with a loss in the same period last year of $32.9million or $0.54 per share. Excluding the one-time charge, the company reported an operating loss of $39.1million or $0.66 per share.

Comparable store sales increased in all business segments for the second consecutive quarter. At Borders domestic superstores, same-store sales increased by 1.1% driven largely by a continued increase in traffic as the company further leveraged its 22-million-member Borders Rewards database, among other initiatives. Comparable store sales increased by 3.6% in the Waldenbooks Specialty Retail segment led by growth in traffic and transaction size. In the International segment, comparable store sales increased by 7.8% as a result of strong performance in Asia Pacific stores

Borders' gross margin is eroding as they expand their Border's Reward program. More customers are visiting the stores but they are also recieving discounts and these redemptions are exceeding rate (by design) that occured last year. For the quarter, the company lost almost 1% on gross margin and this on top of the actual expense for promoting and expanding the new rewards plan. Clearly the company needs to invest in new customer acqusition and retention programs but Analysts will watching this program closely for its effectiveness in driving store metrics closer to those achieved by B&N.

Troubling will be the doubling of the operating loss at the US Borders super stores where the company reported a $30.8million loss compared to a loss of $16.7million. This negative performance was blamed on the member program and rapidly declining DVD/Music sales. Books were up 3% but clearly considerably less than the revenue required to cover the investment. George Jones commented on these results:

"Profitability in the Borders domestic superstore segment was negatively impacted by investments we are making now -- in efforts such as our upcoming e-commerce site and concept store development -- that are currently not providing returns, but will drive contributions in the long term," Jones said. "We have also been experimenting with our promotions and discount structure to gain a solid understanding of the levers that drive traffic and sales in our stores. Our Borders Rewards program has proven that it clearly and consistently works to achieve both. Now, we need to fine-tune our approach further so that we better balance the bottom-line impact with our top-line growth," he added.

The Borders share price has fallen from a mid-year high of $24 to its current $12. Correspondingly, the company's market cap is now below $715mm which in my estimation makes it a cheap acquisition candidate.

Full press release

Kindle

I was contemplating listing some of the articles and posts related to the Amazon news this week but thankfully Eoin Purcell has done it for me.

Here.

In some strange way I feel some appear to be rooting for Kindle versus Sony (or Apple) as if it is a contest that in earlier years would have pitted Donnelly against Quebecor.

Videologblog: Writers Strike (Colbert Report writers)

There has been a serious lack of humor in the PND household over the past two weeks. This goes a short way in alleviating the monotony of Nature and Antiques Roadshow. There really is nothing worth watching.

Five Questions on Global Data Synchronization

That's a title likely to induce a narcoleptic attack in all but the most ardent followers of bibliographic matters but it is nevertheless an important topic for all managers of book information. Industries other than publishing also battle data reliability and timeliness and, over the years led by umbrella groups such as UCC and EAN (now combined into one organization named GS1), they have developed programs to embrace supply chain efficiency and its' co-relation data integrity. Data Synchronisation (GDSN) is such a program which I have noted a few times in the past (Post). The objective of the GDSN is to ensure that all trading partners are working with the same set of product details that are simultaneously synchronized at a network level and in transaction details such as purchase orders and shipping details. The benefits of synchronised data can extend from 'simple' efficiency improvements in the ordering and receipt process to higher effectiveness in marketing and promotions programs.

As I mentioned earlier on this topic, BookNet Canada is embarking on a test of data synchronization and I asked Michael Tamblyn, President of BookNet Canada my five questions.

1. Firstly tell us about how BookNet Canada got started and what you have achieved thus far. What are your current priorities?
   
   BookNet Canada came into being in 2003 when Canadian retailers, publishers and the federal government decided that there should be a central not-for-profit agency to coordinate technology and supply chain innovation for the Canadian book market. While that sounds about as thrilling as a three-day lecture on HVAC engineering, we have been able to move the industry very quickly in some very exciting directions. Canada benefits from relatively small size, a general tendency towards collaboration, being a cross-roads country with ties to the U.S., UK, and EU, and a community of quite forward-thinking retailers and system vendors. It lets us get things rolling quickly, gather feedback early and often, and push the envelope a bit more than larger markets.
   
   Some examples: from a somewhat stagnant state in '03, B2B e-commerce now accounts for 85-90% of all business documents; EDI invoices and ASNs are fully supported through the publishing community; even independent retailers do EDI-based receiving. BNC SalesData, our national sales tracking service, launched in 2005, tracks sales, stock position, orders outstanding on every title, without modeling or estimation, on 70% of the book market. In a nice mouse-eats-elephant story, our Canadian Bibliographic Standard was adopted more-or-less in its entirety as the BISG Metadata Best Practice Guideline for the U.S. market for both ONIX and Excel.
   
   Then there is the more forward-looking work: collaborative sales data mining for independents, backlist optimization and forecasting research, industry cost analysis on returns, digital publishing trends, our annual Technology Forum. And on it goes.
   
   
2. You announced a Data Synchronization initiative in mid-summer. Can you give us some back-ground on this project, the status and where you see the initiative going over the next six months? What is your time table and what is your hoped for end result?
   
   We approached GDSN with a set of assumptions that looked something like this:
   
   1. Publishers already have a data sharing standard -- ONIX -- that they have embraced and invested in. They shouldn't have to learn another one. Make it simple!
   2. GDSN currently serves a small part of the retail sector, but if it became ubiquitous at some point in the future, how can we protect publishers from a price perspective?
   3. Think global, start local. The G in GDSN is there for a reason, so let's not assume that we're just making a Canadian service for Canadian publishers and retailers.
   
   Those first principles have guided our efforts over the past few months. We have been working with Commport, our GDSN data pool partner, on the construction of an ONIX-to-GDSN bridge that is now in testing. Timelines are very dependent on the retailers and wholesalers involved, but we hope to be well into the pilot six months from now. From our perspective, the "pilot" itself doesn't begin until we are moving active title data from a real publisher to a real retailer who is actually going to use that data in purchasing and POS systems. That's an important point: the challenge isn't getting the data into, or out of, the pool; it's getting that data into retailer systems so that it supplants the current mix of spreadsheets and paper forms. Until then, the conversation hasn't changed. Data conversion is easy, adoption is hard.
   
   In parallel, we are preparing a draft submission to GS1 regarding additions to the GDSN Global Data Dictionary to make it more relevant to the book trade. That will certainly spend some time in the loving embrace of the BISG Metadata Committee before heading to GS1.
   
   From a pricing standpoint, I think we've come up with the best possible model for publishers. A free 1-year pilot, unlimited upload and publishing to the global network, with the clock starting when the data goes into production with retailers (i.e. not when testing starts, but when it ends). Then very low per-SKU fees that are capped at a shockingly low rate, just in case this breaks out of the mass market and into the trade.
   
   
3. What issues have you encountered that were unexpected? Given that the book industry is ‘fitting’ in to a set of standards that have been developed for other industries how much of an issue has it been trying to marry the existing data structures with our industry?
   
   Always lots to learn, which is part of the fun. Some highlights:
   * The extent to which GDSN stands to benefit independent wholesalers, many of whom have never really grasped ONIX in their relationship with publishers, and who have to serve a retail community who couldn't care less about book-industry-specific standards.
   * We've talked to several publishers who have, because of various retail relationships, been required to submit to GDSN data pools over the past five years. None of them have seen their data make it into production systems. It's safe to say that there are some data pools out there who have been less than candid about where GDSN data really gets used and by whom.
   * Current GDSN costs per SKU or ISBN have been absolutely egregious! $25 or more per SKU per year? That's great if you are in consumer packaged goods with 100 SKUs worth $50M each, not so great if you're a mid-sized publisher with a line of DIY books selling into general retail. Time to fix that, I think...
   
   In terms of fitting in, there are definitely some things that need to be improved in the Global Data Dictionary if books are going to find a happy home in GDSN. GPC Product Forms aren't perfect for books. You can't pass along an author, just a title. Things like that. It's workable for mass market applications, but I think the goal should be to get the Canadian/US standard fields well-represented and then build from there.
   
   
4. Is there an on-going relationship with GS1 here? Do you anticipate the publishing industry will be exposed to best practices and perhaps learn from the GS1 community?
   If so, where do you see the greatest potential benefit?
   
   We'll be working with GS1 on the standards and data dictionary issues, but we have avoided a relationship with 1Sync, their data pool service provider. When we started watching this space, we realized that one of the great things about GDSN is that it's an open, certified standard, which makes the data pool game an excellent market for aggressive fast-followers. We selected a vendor with a strong track record in high-volume data processing who has made a name for themselves enabling whole industries on GDSN but who was also willing to toss out the rulebook on GDSN pricing to meet the needs of the book industry.
   
   In terms of who learns from who, I think that GS1 has a lot to learn from the book industry. "Industry-With-Lots-of-Low-Price-Point-SKUs" is still reasonably new for GDSN, and nobody does massive numbers of discrete, non-variant SKUs like the book industry. They are working with Music and DVD now, which should help, but Music and DVD aren't nearly as sophisticated as the book industry regarding product data (much to the dismay of any retailer who has ever sold both!) I'd argue that we have spent more time and effort working out the issues related to standardization of rich product description metadata than any other industry, so I think the conversation is going to be "Here's ONIX, which we know and love. Let's figure out how much realistically needs to be in GDSN." With any luck, we can extend the data dictionary accordingly.
   
   
5. Will your Data Synchronization initiative influence similar initiatives in the US and UK.
   
   Will those markets make full use of your path finding or more to the point will they have to develop their own initiatives? Getting GDSN off the ground is going to require the concerted effort of several national markets. The GS1 data vetting process requires broad support to propose changes to the Global Data Dictionary. We are happy to lead the charge, but we want to make sure that this meets the needs of the larger book market as well, so plenty of collaboration is required.

Michael can be reached at BookNet Canada: mtamblyn(At)booknetcanada.com

Borders Loyalty Program

Mrs PND received a quite extraordinary promotional email from Borders Books this weekend which indicated that she had been selected to receive a package of substantial partner benefits just because she was a Borders Rewards member. Aside from the fact she has no recollection being a rewards member, the Borders Rewards Perks program offers substantial benefits to "rewards members like you" it says. If you go to the perks site linked to above you will find many many discount programs which regrettably seem to be perfectly targeted to Mr. & Mrs. PND's lavish lifestyle.

It is hard to understand what they are trying to achieve with this program. Perhaps they are attempting to mimic the 'retail emporium' that is Amazon.com in advance of launching their own web site. Or it could be a simple attempt to capture as many web consumers as possible so that they can promote the launch of the web site to an even broader base of customers.

Affiliations are often effective for merchandising and brand extension but the sheer number of bonus and discount offers seems excessive. Few if any of these appear to be 'for our Borders rewards customers only' and, as such the list of benefits may be a nice consolidation of existing discount and bonus programs. (Hey thanks!).

Some of these expire soon so hurry to your nearest Borders website so you can shop elsewhere.

Borders Australia

Speculation that the Borders Australian and New Zealand stores have been sold to Pacific Equity Partners are surfacing from a rather unique source. The India Times is reporting that industrial and services behemoth Tata Industries participated in the last round of bids for the Borders unit and also suggests the price agreed for the store operations will top A$125mm. There is speculation that PEP will also get the Singapore store and may have ascribed more deal value to the Borders brand which they may seek to extend into SE Asia. More details will follow.

IndiaTimes

CBS Outdoor Announce Times Square WiFi Hot Spot

Billboard owner CBS Outdoor is announcing a partnership with the MTA that will create a mid-town wide wi-fi hotspot covering most of Times Square.

CBS Corporation announced today that it will "light up" midtown Manhattan with the creation of the"CBS Mobile Zone," a wireless high-speed network enabling New Yorkers with Wi-Fi-enabled cell phones, laptops or other devices to access the Internet for free, and make voice over internet (VOI) calls. The Wi-Fi Hot Zone,which is available today in certain areas, will be fully operational on by month's end with a footprint of more than 20 city blocks from Times Square to Central Park South and from 6th Avenue to 8th Avenue. This initiative is part of a 6-month pilot program with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and New York City Transit to test the potential communications capabilities of Wi-Fi technology.

Check it out. Just in time for the Kindle

Amazon Kindle to be Launched Monday

According to a report in CNet this morning there is to be a 'high-profile' launch party at the W hotel in Union Square to announce the long anticipated Kindle ebook reader. From the report,

The Kindle is equipped with a Wi-Fi connection that taps into an Amazon e-book store, which users can access to purchase new electronic books--and Amazon has reportedly signed onto a deal with Sprint for EVDO access. Additionally, the device comes with a headphone jack for audiobooks, as well as an e-mail address.

The devise is expected to sell for $399 and among its content deals the company has apparently negotiated partnerships with as many as 100 newspaper publishers. The company is also saying it will have from launch the largest inventory of all e-books available. The report also confirmed that the initial SONY e-book reader has been 'a bust' but SONY expects their second version with improved features to fair better.

CNET

Virtual Felony

According to the BBC, a 17 year old Dutch boy was arrested for allegedly steeling $3500 of virtual furniture from the 'homes' of residents of the online community Habbo. According to website administrators, the real world threat of Id theft also exists in the virtual world and this perp and several co-conspirators convinced some Habbo players to fork over their passwords. Since the Habbo credits used to buy stuff players use in the game are purchased with real money, steeling someones couch is a 'real' crime. I wonder if they will do time in a real jail?

Reed Explores Purchase of EMAP B2B

Is it a ruse to gain access to their financials or does Reed Business Information really want to purchase the Emap B2B titles. That is what a number of high profile private equity firms are considering after they were assured by the sellers that there were no commercial operators interesting in Emap. (Telegraph) Other observers have suggested that Reed may also decide to join one of the PE buyers (or wait on the sidelines until it is all over) and negotiate to cherry pick the best titles that fit with their current stable of publications. The company is especially interested in titles that have or could have strong electronic/online opportunities. Reed also has an interested in Harcourt/Riverdeep which they could trade with a PE firm for the (some) of the titles they would like to own.

The whole Emap sale has been convoluted and murky from the get-go, and with the public notification of Reed's interest the bid participants were given an additional opportunity to revise their bids. No bidder has ever appeared inclined to buy all of Emap which of course is what the sellers prefer (Guardian). The company also announced interim results earlier this week which indicated a profit decrease of 16% although the company maintained their full year guidance (Reuters). Emap consists of b2b, consumer magazines and radio.

In separate news, Reed also confirmed that the company is on track to achieve 10% growth in EPS this year with all segments of the business performing well. Hemscott

Hachette Vert

The Bookseller is reporting that Hachette livre UK is moving to firm sale on their back-list by the end of 2008. The company expects to consult with retailers on this implementation but Hachette is wielding the weapon of "Greenery"and thus have right on thier side. The Bookseller, calls the approach 'radical' and it is certainly unusual in the publishing world but in reality backlist sales are by nature far more stable than front list and the proposal shouldn't cause too much debate or controversy. (Expect to see other publishers follow suit).

The Bookseller went on to explain that this new proposal is only part of Hachette's Green policy,

Hachette has also commissioned the Carbon Trust to advise it on a long-term strategy to improve its energy emissions. It has already embarked on a range of initiatives, including persuading its head office landlords to re-engineer its office lighting system so that night-time lighting is restricted to areas occupied by members of staff; introducing dual fuel ‘hybrid’ cars into its company car fleet; and encouraging reduced use of cars.

Hachette are also revising their paper sourcing polices to follow accepted Green practices.