Scholastic second quarter revenues up 7%

Scholastic Corporation said it increased revenues 7% to $665.6m (£426m) during the fiscal 2015 second quarter, which ended on the 30th November.

The increase was largely down to strong sales in children’s books but there were gains in most divisions, including trade, clubs, fairs and classroom books and magazines.

International sales were down 2% to $132.8m (£85m) because of unfavourable foreign exchange rates but most markets had growth in local currency terms.

Sales were particularly strong in Australia, Asia-Pacific and India. The company said it is building “significant capacity” in Asia, where revenues now exceed $100m (£64m) annually.

The company also singled out Chicken House, the UK publishing house run by Barry Cunningham but owned by Scholastic, as being a strong performer, thanks to the success of The Maze Runner series by James Dashner.

Overall operating profit was up 19% to $112.8m (£72.2m) compared to the same period in 2014

Scholastic is predicting sales of $1.9bn (£1.2bn) for the whole of 2015.