Sears brings back Wish Book holiday catalog

Third quarter operating revenues were $744.3 million, including a $1.4 million negative impact from hurricanes Harvey and Irma, compared to $772.3 million in the prior year quarter. There was no material impact on revenues related to currency changes in the quarter. The year-over-year performance reflected lower print advertising and circulation revenues offset partially by higher digital advertising revenues and the contribution from acquired operations (1). On a same store basis, operating revenues in the third quarter declined 9.4% (or 10.2% when excluding $6.7 million related to the 2016 third quarter revaluation of acquired deferred revenue), an improvement compared to a decline in the 2017 second quarter of 10.6%, as a result of digital revenue growth. Total digital revenues in the third quarter increased to $245.0 million, or approximately 33% of total revenue, including the contribution from ReachLocal which was acquired in August 2016. GAAP net income for the third quarter was $23.0 million, including a $20.1 million tax benefit offset partially by $15.4 million of after-tax severance, acquisition, asset impairment, facility consolidation and other costs; approximately $10.3 million of these charges were non-cash. Adjusted EBITDA (2) for the third quarter increased 27.3% to $73.9 million compared to $58.0 million in the prior year quarter with a 240 basis point margin improvement year-over-year, which includes the favorable comparison related to the aforementioned deferred revenue revaluation. Click Read More below for additional information.

The Association of American Publishers released its StatShot report for October 2023 reflecting reported revenue for Trade (Consumer Books), Higher Education Course Materials, and Professional Publishing. Total revenues across all categories for October 2023 were up 1.8% as compared to October 2022, coming in at $1.2 billion. Year-to-date revenues were up 0.7%, at $10.6 billion for the first ten months of the year. Trade (Consumer Books) revenues were up 1.3% in October, coming in at $975.0 million. In terms of physical paper format revenues during the month of October, in the Trade (Consumer Books) category, Hardback revenues were down 2.3%, coming in at $441.8 million; Paperbacks were up 5.5%, with $301.1 million in revenue; Mass Market was up 44.4% to $10.4 million; and Special Bindings were up 3.7%, with $25.8 million in revenue.

The Bon-Ton Stores, Inc. announced that it has received a signed letter of intent from an investor group composed of DW Partners, Namdar Realty Group and Washington Prime Group, pursuant to which the investor group proposes to acquire the Company as a going concern in a Bankruptcy Court-supervised sale process. The Company and the investor group are in the process of finalizing an asset purchase agreement in advance of an auction, which is now scheduled to be held on April 16, 2018. Bon-Ton is continuing to operate in the ordinary course as the Company completes its court-supervised restructuring process. Bon-Ton was required to provide notification under certain state and federal laws of potential job losses even as it works to complete a sale of the Company as a going concern, and is hopeful the sale process will preserve jobs. The Company's stores remain open and are continuing to serve customers. Click Read More below for additional information.