In the fourth quarter ending January 31, revenues at Hastings Entertainment fell 3.7%, to $136.4 million, and net income rose 91.7%, to $2.3 million. For the full year, revenues fell 5.7%, to $436 million, and the net loss increased 9.7%, to $10.2 million.
Last week, Hastings announced that it hopes to be bought for $3 a share and merge with subsidiaries of National Entertainment Collectibles Association, all of which are controlled by Joel Weinshanker. In this morning's quarterly and annual report, the company didn't mention the deal.
During the quarter, sales of books at stores open at least a year fell 8.2%, mainly, the company said, because of "a weaker release schedule for new books and a decrease in trade paperback sales, as compared to the fourth quarter of fiscal 2012, which included higher sales from the Fifty Shades trilogy. Sales of digital hardware also decreased for the quarter as compared to the same period in the prior year."
The story was similar for the full year. Hastings said that sales of books at stores open at least a year fell 10.7% for the year, mainly because of "a weaker release schedule for new books and a decrease in trade paperback and hardback sales, as compared to fiscal 2012, which included strong sales from the Fifty Shades and Hunger Games trilogies. In addition, sales of digital hardware decreased significantly for fiscal 2013 as compared to fiscal 2012."
CEO and chairman John H. Marmaduke commented on the company's performance, in part: "As we have previously disclosed, one of our strategic initiatives is the introduction of new product categories which include consumer electronics, music electronics and accessories, vinyl, hobby, recreation and lifestyle and tablets." Most of those products are in the electronics and trends categories, which had sales gains in the fourth quarter of 5.2% and 25.1%, respectively.
On the other hand, Marmaduke noted, revenues for music, books and rental were all down and "continue to be impacted by the popularity of digital delivery, rental kiosks and subscription based services."
