Ogden Newspapers To Acquire Indiana’s KPC Media (mediapost.com)

*Net sales of $8.1 billion, down 1.7% versus the fourth quarter of 2022. Digital sales decreased 4% versus the fourth quarter of 2022. Brick-and-mortar sales were roughly flat versus the fourth quarter of 2022.*Comparable sales, on a 13-week basis, were down 5.4% on an owned basis and down 4.2% on an owned-plus-licensed basis. *Highlights of the company's nameplates include: Macy’s comparable sales, on a 13-week basis, were down 6.0% on an owned basis and down 4.7%, on an owned-plus-licensed basis. *Bloomingdale’s comparable sales, on a 13-week basis, were down 1.5% on an owned basis and down 1.6% on an owned-plus-licensed basis. *Bluemercury comparable sales, on a 13-week basis, were up 2.3% on an owned basis. *Gross margin for the quarter was 37.5%, up from 34.1% in the fourth quarter of 2022.

*Net sales increased 65.2% to $1.9 billion compared to $1.2 billion in the first quarter of fiscal 2020. The net sales increase during the first quarter of fiscal 2021 was primarily due to the favorable impact in the U.S. from improving consumer confidence, government stimulus payments and the easing of COVID-19 restrictions. *Comparable sales (sales for stores open at least 14 months, including stores temporarily closed due to COVID-19, and e-commerce sales) increased 65.9% compared to a decrease of 35.3% in the first quarter of fiscal 2020, driven by a 52.5% increase in transactions and an 8.8% increase in average ticket. Compared to the first quarter of fiscal 2019, comparable sales increased 7.0%. *Gross profit increased to $753.8 million compared to $303.6 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2020. As a percentage of net sales, gross profit increased to 38.9% compared to 25.9% in the first quarter of fiscal 2020, primarily due to leverage in fixed costs due to higher sales; improvement in merchandise margins; lower salon expenses; and favorable channel mix shifts. *Operating income was $305.3 million, or 15.8% of net sales, compared to operating loss of $101.5 million, or (8.7)% of net sales, in the first quarter of fiscal 2020. Adjusted operating loss for the first quarter of fiscal 2020 was $81.9 million, or (7.0)% of net sales. *Net income was $230.3 million compared to net loss of $78.5 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2020. Adjusted net loss for the first quarter of fiscal 2020 was $63.6 million.

Unit sales of print books dropped 3% in the week ended Jan. 15, 2022, from the comparable week last year, at outlets that report to NPD BookScan. Nonfiction sales remained soft, and adult nonfiction sales fell 7.8% from the week ended Jan. 16, 2021. Once again, it was softness throughout the category rather than the lack of a big bestseller that fueled the decline. Indeed, the two top titles in the category—Baby Steps Millionaires by Dave Ramsey and Glenn Beck’s The Great Reset—sold about 65,000 copies and 58,000 copies, respectively, easily beating the top title at this time last year: Barack Obama’s A Promised Land, which sold about 33,000 copies in the similar week. Juvenile nonfiction sales fell 11.6% in the week, as all of the category’s largest subcategories had double-digit declines. My Little Golden Book of Betty White by Deborah Hopkinson remained the #1 title, selling almost 12,000 copies. Juvenile fiction sales also fell, dropping 2.9%.