Sales down in Wiley's third-quarter results, but Learning division outperforms

Wiley’s third-quarter results, for the three months to 31st January 2024, show sales are down 6% to $461m (£359m) while the company’s operating loss improved to $46.4m (£36m) compared to $67.1m (£52m) last year.  

Wiley said the revenue decrease was due to “completed divestiture and declines in other held for sale businesses” and “impacted by charges related to held for sale or sold assets, including goodwill and held for sale impairments of $82m (£64m) and $26m (£20m), respectively, as well as a loss on a completed divestiture of $26m (£20m)”. The company also recorded restructuring charges of $15m (£12m). 

Matthew Kissner, interim president and chief executive officer, said: “As we finish out the year, we’re increasingly confident in our underlying momentum and recovery in Research and continued outperformance in Learning.  

“We’ve moved decisively on our improvement and optimisation plans and expect a strong fourth quarter as Research continues to recover, Learning continues to outperform, and in-year cost savings accelerate. Our disciplined execution and positive momentum are allowing us to raise our earnings guidance this year and set us up well for material performance and profit improvement in fiscal 2025 and 2026.” 

The Academic Learning segment, which includes textbook sales, rose 5% to $87.2m (£68m), owing to licensing and digital content. 

Looking to the fiscal 2024, Wiley said: “Given leading indicators, outperformance in Learning augmented by an anticipated Q4 content rights deal for training AI models, and accelerated in-year cost savings, Wiley sees revenue trending toward the mid to high end of the range and is raising its adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation and adjusted earning per share guidance.”