Book Fair Sales Plunge at Scholastic
By Jim Milliot
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Dec 18, 2020
The loss of 79% of its domestic book fair revenue was the major factor in dropping sales and earnings at Scholastic in its second quarter ended November 31. Total revenue declined 32%, to $406.2 million, in the quarter, and operating income fell 54%, to $48.8 million.
Fair revenue fell from $224.1 million in the second period ended November 31, 2019, to $47.7 million in the most recent quarter. The revenue decline was due to a significant drop in the number of in-person fairs held in schools because of the Covid-91 pandemic, Scholastic said. The increase in new online fairs was not nearly enough to offset the downturn of Scholastic’s in-person events. The company said it is hopeful that “after a ramp-up period in the third fiscal quarter,” overall results, and especially the fair business, will start to show improvement in its fiscal fourth quarter, which ends May 31, 2021.