Costco Wholesale Corporation Reports December Sales Results

HarperCollins Leadership (HCL), a new imprint launching at HarperCollins next week, is focusing on “content designed for individuals looking for inspiration, insight, and tools to help activate their inherent leadership potential,” according to the publisher. Brian Hampton, who is also publisher and senior v-p of HarperCollins Christian Publishing’s Nelson Books division, will lead the new imprint. Jeff James will serve as v-p of marketing for HCL. The first book to be published under HCL will be Building a StoryBrand: Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen by Donald Miller, author of the bestselling 2003 memoir Blue Like Jazz (Thomas Nelson) and founder-CEO of the StoryBrand marketing services firm. The book goes on sale October 10. Click Read More below for more of the story.

Sales at the Hachette Book Group rose 2.7% last year, parent company Lagardere reported. The increase was attributed in part to contributions from Perseus (where You Are a Badass sold over 648,000 print copies) and its Nashville-based imprints (where The Shack had strong sales). HBG also benefited from a full year ownership of Perseus, which it acquired at the end of March in 2016. Earlier this year. Lagardere reported that total revenue in the publishing group was €2.29 billion, up 1.1% over 2016. In its release Thursday, the company said EBIT (earnings before interest and taxes) rose 1.0%, to €210 million. Similar to the sales gain, Lagardere said the profit improvement was "mainly attributable to a strong performance in the United States," driven by "successful releases" as well as continued profitability gains from the consolidation of Perseus. Click Read More below for additional information.

“We posted another solid quarter of earnings, margins, and cash flow in line with our expectations, supported by our on-going Strategic Transformation initiatives,” said Jeff Jacobson, Xerox chief executive officer. “Revenue decline improved sequentially which we expect to carry through the rest of the year.” Jacobson added, “All 29 of our new ConnectKey®-enabled office products are now available and shipping to large and small customers around the globe; momentum is building, as expected, entering the last quarter of the year.” The company delivered third-quarter 2017 GAAP earnings per share (EPS) from continuing operations of 67 cents, up 1.5 percent year-over-year. Adjusted EPS was 89 cents, up 6.0 percent year-over-year, and excludes 22 cents per share of after-tax costs related to the amortization of intangibles, restructuring and related costs, and certain retirement-related costs. Revenues were $2.5 billion in the quarter, down 5.0 percent or 5.9 percent in constant currency. Post sale revenue was 79 percent of total revenue. Click Read More below for additional information.