Borders Earnings Beat Analysts, Yet Sales Decline

  • May 27, 2009
Borders Group reported a net loss of $86 million, or $1.44 a share, for the three months that ended May 2 after the market closed Tuesday. That compares to a net loss of $31.7 million, or 50 cents a share, for the same period a year ago for the Ann Arbor, Mich.-based bookseller. Revenues registered at $650.2 million for the quarter, compared to $735.8 million in the same period of 2008.

The results were still not as bad as expected, with analysts anticipating a loss of 50 cents per share for continued operations, as opposed to the 27 cents loss per share reported.

Total consolidated first-quarter sales were $641.5 million, down 12.1% from the prior year. Comparable-store sales for the first quarter declined by 13.5% and 5.5% at Borders superstores and Waldenbooks Specialty Retail stores, respectively. The company is focusing on driving sales as the key to long-term success, according to Borders Group CEO Ron Marshall. He told analysts on a call Wednesday morning that the company is taking action to reverse the slide.--Tanya Irwin

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1 comment about "Borders Earnings Beat Analysts, Yet Sales Decline ".
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  1. Deborah Armstrong from Group PRM - Options Alliance, June 2, 2009 at 12:38 p.m.

    In spite of a few comments heard around the office, this decline is not being fueled by Kindle since it has not built a big enough base. I suspect it is a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy as Borders has pulled back on all spending in local market media and online media. eMail marketing seems to be their only effort and it is clearly NOT working.

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