S&S ends Q3 in 'fantastic position'

Simon & Schuster US has revealed sales reaching $321m in its third quarter this year, a 15% increase on the $279m figure from 2020.

The results were reported on Friday (5th November), for the three months ending 30th September 2021, and were strongly supported by a staunch offering from the UK, with c.e.o. Ian Chapman saying the publishing house is on track for another "record year". 

The publisher's operating income came in at $93m, a hike of almost 50% compared to 2020's $56m. Overall sales reached $321m in its third quarter, marking a 15% rise from 2020 ($279m).

Revenue for the year to date is $725m, up $76m on 2020, which came in at a record $901m.

The company also saw a rise in sales of 12% across adult fiction, while children's experienced a 19% surge. Revenue was bolstered by a strong offering from S&S UK, with Dave Grohl's The Storyteller and Bob Mortimer's memoir, And Away, performing particularly well. 

Chapman told The Bookseller the US' postive showing was consistent with the UK operation, which reported a surge in growth of almost 70% in children's fiction. He said: "As reported by ViacomCBS, S&S has ended Q3 in a fantastic position, continuing to grow in both revenue and profit globally. Local publishing in the UK is in a period of sustained record growth across all areas—fiction, non-fiction and children’s. 

"The children’s division has grown [Sue Hendra and Paul Linnet's] Supertato Night of the Living Veg by 68% against the last Supertato title, Bubbly Troubly, in the same time period with a record-setting five weeks in the Children’s overall top 10. Adam Silvera continues to have the number one YA Fiction title in the market. Ben Miller’s How I Became a Dog Called Midnight entered the Children’s Fiction top 10 on publication and is 18% up on his last title, The Day I Fell Into the Fairytale. 

"Non-fiction highlights of Q3 have included the smash hit Bob Mortimer’s And Away…, which went straight to number one on the Sunday Times bestseller list and has now sold over 200,000 copies across all editions in just six weeks on sale. Fiction have had continued bestseller success with Colleen Hoover’s It Ends with Us and Taylor Jenkins Reid’s Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, adding further Sunday Times bestsellers from Philippa Gregory, Santa Montefiore and Rachel Hore in the period.

"S&S UK is currently 47% ahead in TCM (Top 5,000) market share year to date compared to the full calendar year last year. With a bumper autumn including Dave Grohl’s number one bestseller The Storyteller, we are on track for 2021 to be a record year in the UK for S&S."

The results come days after the Biden administration announced its intention to sue in order to stop Penguin Random House owner Bertelsmann purchasing S&S in a $2.2bn deal, which Penguin Random House is challenging. Additional notes in the company's financial filling said: "The Purchase Agreement contains customary representations and warranties and covenants, including commitments on the part of Penguin Random House to take all necessary steps to obtain any required regulatory approvals and to defend any litigation that would delay or prevent consummation, and also provides for a termination fee payable to ViacomCBS in certain circumstances in the event the Transaction does not close for regulatory reasons.”