At Barnes & Noble, sales in the third quarter ended October 28
rose
3% to $1.1 billion. Preliminary net losses were $2.8 million compared
to a net gain of $327,000 in the same period a year ago. Financial
statements for the quarter have not been finalized because the company
is awaiting the results of a board investigation into its practices
involving the awards of stock options to senior executives. B&N is
one of more than 100 companies whose stock options practices are being
looked into by the Securities and Exchange Commission, which wants to
determine whether the options were backdated or otherwise manipulated
to benefit executives.
Sales at B&N superstores rose 4% to $972.1 million, while sales at
stores open at least a year rose 2%. At Dalton, sales fell 28% to $20.5
million, because of store closings and a 5% drop in comp-store sales.
Sales at Barnes&Noble.com dropped 0.5% to $95.8 million.
The company said bestselling titles were Dianne Setterfield's The Thirteenth Tale, Mitch Album's For One More Day, Senator Barack Obama's The Audacity of Hope, Lemony Snicket's The End and John Grisham's The Innocent Man.
B&N will pay a dividend of 15 cents a share to stockholders of record on December 8.
In the fourth quarter, B&N predicts comp-store sales at superstores
to range from "flat to an increase in the low single-digits." For the
full year, comp-store sales range from "flat to a slight increase over
last year."
In
a conference call, CEO Stephen Riggio said early results from B&N's
decision last month to increase discounts on hardcovers and bestsellers
for members of its loyalty program were encouraging and could lead to
"steep" discounts for all customers, Reuters reported.
Some analysts expressed concern that increased discounts would hurt
earnings. "We remain concerned about the impact that an intensifying
promotional environment could have on the fourth quarter," Merrill
Lynch analyst Danielle Fox wrote, as quoted by Reuters.
On an up date on Wall Street, B&N shares fell 5.2% and closed at $40.40.
At the end of the quarter, B&N had 692 B&N superstores and 109
Dalton stores. During the quarter, the company opened 11 B&N stores
and closed six while closing three Dalton stores were closed.