Barnes & Noble puts the blame on election

Cost cuts help improve Barnes & Noble’s profitability in the third quarter even as its sales continued to decline.



“While we are pleased to have improved our performance due to expense reductions, we did experience sluggish sales, which we believe are directly related to the election cycle,” said Len Riggio, chairman and CEO of Barnes & Noble. "With the election behind us, we hope and expect sales will improve over the holidays."



The bookseller reported a loss of $20.4 million, or 29 cents a share, compared with loss of $39.2 million, or 52 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Selling and administrative expenses were 12% lower than last year, prior-year quarter.



Retail sales, which include Barnes & Noble stores and BN.com, declined 3.5% to $830.7 million for the quarter.



Same-store sales declined 3.2% on lower store traffic.



NOOK sales, which include digital content, devices and accessories, declined 19.4% to $35.0 million for the quarter.