New York, NY (May 18, 2006)—Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS), the world’s largest bookseller, today reported sales and earnings for the first quarter ended April 29, 2006. In addition, the company also announced that its Board of Directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.15 per share for stockholders of record at the close of business on June 9, 2006, payable on June 30, 2006.
Sales for the first quarter increased 2% to $1.1 billion. Barnes & Noble store sales increased 2% to $980.5 million, with comparable store sales decreasing 0.3% for the quarter. B. Dalton sales were $23.3 million for the quarter, a 26% decrease due to store closings and a 1.8% comparable store sales decline. Sales at Barnes & Noble.com of $91.1 million for the quarter were flat compared to the prior year period.
Bestselling titles during the quarter included John Grogan’s Marley & Me, James Patterson’s Fifth Horseman, Stephen King’s Cell, Giada de Laurentiis’ Giada’s Family Dinners and Jim Cramer’s Real Money.
First quarter net earnings were $10.0 million or $0.14 per share, in-line with company guidance of $0.10 to $0.14 per share. Effective this quarter, the company has adopted Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 123(R) (As Amended), “Share-Based Payment,” and began expensing stock options at the beginning of fiscal year 2006. Excluding a $0.04 per share impact due to stock compensation expense, first quarter net earnings were $0.18 per share, representing a 31% increase compared to the prior year.
In the first quarter of 2006, the company acquired 2.2 million shares for $93 million under its share repurchase program.
GUIDANCE
For the second quarter, the company expects comparable store sales at Barnes & Noble stores to decrease in the low-single digits due to the difficult comparisons against last year’s 4.3% comparable store sales increase, which included extraordinary sales of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. For the full year, the company continues to expect comparable store sales to be in the low single digits.
Barnes & Noble, Inc.’s second quarter earnings per share is expected to be in a range of $0.22 to $0.26, which includes stock compensation expense of $0.04 per share. For the full year, the company continues to expect earnings per share to be in a range of $2.20 to $2.30, which includes stock compensation expense of $0.15 per share.
As of April 29, 2006, the company operated 684 Barnes & Noble stores and 113 B. Dalton stores. During the first quarter, eight Barnes & Noble stores were opened and five were closed. B. Dalton closed five stores during the quarter.
A conference call with Barnes & Noble, Inc.’s senior management will be webcast beginning at 11:00 A.M. ET on Thursday, May 18, 2006, and is accessible at www.barnesandnobleinc.com/webcasts. The call will also be archived at www.fulldisclosure.com for one year.
Barnes & Noble, Inc. will report second quarter earnings on or about August 17, 2006.
FINANCIAL TABLES
Here you can download financial tables related to the sales and earnings for the first quarter ended April 29, 2006.
Consolidated Statements of Operations (13KB)
Consolidated Balance Sheets (13KB)
To read the tables, you will need Adobe Reader, available at no charge from Adobe. Click here to download Adobe Reader and follow the step-by-step instructions.
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