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Barnes & Noble income down amid higher costs; same-store sales up

2/21/2012

New York City -- Barnes & Noble reported that its net income for the 13 weeks ended Jan. 28 fell 14% to $52 million, compared with $60.6 million as rising costs offset higher sales for both physical and digital books. The company also said it will introduce a cheaper Nook Tablet, with eight gigabytes of memory for $199. (Its current device sells for $249.)



Revenue rose 5% to $2.44 billion. Revenue from Nook e-readers and its digital catalog rose 38% to $542 million. The company estimates it now has a 27% to 30% share of the U.S. e-book market.



Traditional book sales were up 4% in the quarter. Same-store sales increased 2.8%.



"In the third quarter, our traffic and sales in stores were the highest we've seen in five years," said Barnes & Noble CEO William Lynch said in a call with investors. "Our juvenile business and our toys and games department both drove significant double-digit increases, due in large part to the execution of our new merchandising strategies."

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