Earnings Labs

Scholastic Corporation (SCHL)

Q3 2012 Earnings Call· Thu, Mar 15, 2012

$40.47

-0.93%

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Good day, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Scholastic Q3 FY 2012 Earnings Call. [Operator Instructions] As a reminder, today's conference call is being recorded. I'd now like to turn the conference over to your host, Mr. Jeffrey Matthews, Vice President of Corporate Strategy, Business Development and Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Jeffrey Mathews

Analyst

Thanks, Ellie. And good morning, everyone. Before we begin, I'd like to point out that the slides for this presentation are available for simultaneous viewing on our Investor Relations website at investor.scholastic.com. I’d also like to note that this presentation contains certain forward-looking statements which are subject to various risks and uncertainties, including the conditions of the children’s book and educational materials markets, that accompanies products within those markets, and other risks and factors identified from time to time in the company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Actual results could differ materially from those currently anticipated. Also, our comments today include references to certain non-GAAP financial measures as defined in Regulation G. The reconciliation of these non-GAAP financial measures with the relevant GAAP financial information and other information required by Regulation G is provided in the company's earning release, which is posted on the company's Investor Relations website at investor.scholastic.com. Now I'll introduce Dick Robinson, the Chairman, CEO and President of Scholastic, to begin our presentation.

Richard Robinson

Analyst

Thanks, Jeff. Good morning, and thank you for joining our fiscal 2012 third quarter analyst and investor conference call. For this morning's prepared comments, I'm joined by Maureen O'Connell, CFO and Chief Administrative Officer. Other members of the executive team will also be available to answer questions at the end of this call. Obviously, we're delighted by the very strong third quarter and by year-to-year gains across our business. In particular, last quarter we achieved significant improvements in Children's Trade Publishing with buoyant sales of The Hunger Games trilogy in the run-up to next week's movie release. School Book Fairs also achieved double-digit sales growth and along with Clubs saw improved operating profit. Taking a major step in our Digital strategy for Children's Book, last week, we introduced Storia, our new children's ereading app and ebookstore and began the first stage of the rollout to teachers, parents and kids, through our Book Club and Fair channels. Meanwhile, our year-to-date results in education have continued strong based on new products backed up by increased sales and service capacity. With substantial help from The Hunger Games trilogy in English-speaking markets, and in our growing Education business in Asia, we boosted revenues and profits in International. Based on the strong momentum, we raised our outlook for profits and for free cash flow in fiscal 2012 as Maureen will discuss in a moment. Now let's take a look at last quarter's results in more detail. Revenue in the Children's Book Publishing and Distribution segment increased by $73 million last quarter, producing a $33 million gain in operating income. The Trade channel delivered $69 million of the sales growth in the substantial portion of the higher profits. We also achieved the $9 million or 12% revenue increase in School Book Fairs, and profits were up…

Richard Robinson

Analyst

Thanks, Maureen. As you all have heard, we're excited and proud to have produced good third quarter results bouyed by The Hunger Games but also showing continued strength throughout the business. Now I will moderate a question-and-answer period. In addition to Maureen, I'm joined this morning by these division presidents, Shane Armstrong of International, Ellie Berger of Trade Publishing, Deborah Forte of Media, Margery Mayer of Education, Judy Newman of Scholastic Book Clubs and ecommerce, and Hugh Roome of Consumer and Professional Publishing. With that, let's open the call to questions.

Operator

Operator

[Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from Drew Crum of Stifel, Nicolaus. Andrew E. Crum - Stifel, Nicolaus & Co., Inc., Research Division: So my first question, Dick, I wonder if you could quantify the contributions you've seen from The Hunger Games either in the third quarter or year-to-date, just trying to understand how that's going to impact your business going forward as you mentioned, Trade, you expect to stabilize going forward.

Richard Robinson

Analyst

Yes. Maureen, will answer that one, Drew. Thank you for the question. Maureen E. O’Connell: Yes, the majority of our gains in Trade this quarter was Hunger Games, as well as other bestsellers. We do expect that not to be a significant in the fourth quarter because the movie will be released. And as we said on the call, all 3 books sold ahead of the movie, so we've seen very strong sales in the third quarter ahead of the movie. So we expect that to come down. We do expect, though, the sales will continue to be strong but not as strong as the third quarter. Offsetting that will be Next Gen, which was launched last year in the fourth quarter, as well as higher spending on Storia, and Hunger Games, which was also strong last year in the fourth quarter due to the movie series release. Andrew E. Crum - Stifel, Nicolaus & Co., Inc., Research Division: Okay, Maureen, I think you kind of answered this already. But just to maybe expound on your response to Storia and the investment spending there. Where are you with that, should we anticipate sequential increases in the fourth quarter and beyond? I just want to understand how you're thinking about digital investment for the business going forward. Maureen E. O’Connell: About half of our spending for this year is in the fourth quarter for Storia because that's when we're rolling out to our teacher base, as well as testing in the Fairs and our marketing plan supporting that is in the fourth quarter. So there has been some increase in the first 9 months of the year, but the fourth quarter has substantial increase. Andrew E. Crum - Stifel, Nicolaus & Co., Inc., Research Division: Okay, very helpful. And then maybe for Margery, if you can talk about -- we're in a new calendar year here. Just your outlook for the funding environment, what you're seeing in terms of the sales cycle for your product? A lot of your competitors, albeit on the basal side, have suggested calendar '12 is going to be a tough year, but I wonder if you can comment on that.

Margery W. Mayer

Analyst

Drew, it's Margery. Well, yes. We've heard from other people that they're finding it difficult and -- but we've been doing okay. We grew in the quarter. It's a small quarter for us. We -- because we rely more on Title 1 money and special ed, which are more stable, we've been seeing funding out there. I think you know that some states are actually bringing some funding up. It's not at the 2008 levels, but it is showing some signs of life. We are seeing very strong demand for services with the Common Core coming down the road and new assessments, people are really anxious to get their professional staffs ready for this. So we're cautiously optimistic that we're going to be able to weather and grow over the coming months and years. Andrew E. Crum - Stifel, Nicolaus & Co., Inc., Research Division: Good. My last question, guys, any reason there was no buyback during the period? Maureen E. O’Connell: As we were watching The Hunger Games sales increasing, we didn't think it was prudent to go out in the market and buy until we updated our guidance. Also, we raised our dividend in the quarter.

Operator

Operator

[Operator Instructions] Our next question comes from Barry Lucas of Gabelli & Company. Barry L. Lucas - Gabelli & Company, Inc.: Drew covered most of the areas. Dick, maybe you could talk about the response that you've seen so far to Storia, what are teachers, what are employees who've been on the site saying, and what's worked and what hasn't worked?

Richard Robinson

Analyst

Well, teachers loved this app. They're excited about the opportunity to bring something new to their students. When we talk to them, we've talked to hundreds and hundreds of teachers about Storia. They glow with enthusiasm about the app itself, but also the opportunity to introduce their kids to something that everybody's interested in and talking about, and it gives them a new kind of -- a new way to talk about reading, which is so important to build enthusiasm and the love and the support for reading among their students. So I think that characterizes it a lot. They -- the app itself is easy to use. The connection to the bookstores, you have to work out a little bit, but that has been working, too, for the great majority of our people who have tried it so far. Employees have liked it. And we're just feeling very good buzz about Storia all around and a great excitement particularly among teachers and the people supporting the Book Fair events. So it's a good moment, Barry, and this is something new with the people who want to get a hold of to bring new ways of reading and thinking about reading to their kids. Barry L. Lucas - Gabelli & Company, Inc.: Right. And it's available to the -- I mean, having been on the website for desktop, laptop, iPad, but not for Android powered tablets, is that the case?

Richard Robinson

Analyst

That's coming later this month or early next month.

Operator

Operator

[Operator Instructions] I'm showing no further questions at this time. I'd now like to turn the conference back over to Mr. Richard Robinson for any closing remarks.

Richard Robinson

Analyst

Thank you. We had a great quarter. We're very excited about the support for The Hunger Games from all parts of the world from adults, from young people. It's just a reaffirmation of what a great story can do to lift people's spirits and give them a new feeling about reading. Similarly, with Storia, we're very excited about Storia. All of the parts of our company did well in the quarter, and we're very, very proud to -- of that fact and look forward to talking to you again in July. Thank you very much.

Operator

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, this does conclude today's conference. You may all disconnect, and have a wonderful day.