January 20, 2000
BARNES & NOBLE EXPECTS TO EXCEED ANALYSTS' ESTIMATES FOR 1999
FORESEES A STRONG 2000
New York, NY (January 20, 2000)-Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE:BKS), the
nation's largest bookseller, today pre-released guidance for sales and
earnings for the year 2000 and raised earnings estimates for fiscal 1999.
At the same time, the company reported stronger than forecasted sales for
January 1, 2000 through January 15, 2000 and expects to finish the month
and quarter ahead of plan.
As a result of the strong sales for the fourth quarter, the company expects
retail earnings to grow to $1.38 per share for the fourth quarter and $1.71
for the full year. This compares to previous estimates of $1.33 for the
fourth quarter and $1.66 for the year.
Also, due to the positive year-end results, the company expects earnings to
grow by 16 percent in the year 2000 based upon comparable sales increases
of four to five percent for Barnes & Noble "super" stores, and the opening
of 40 to 45 new stores.
For the year ending January 29, 2000, the company's investment activities,
which include investments in barnesandnoble.com, Chapters Inc., NuvoMedia,
iUniverse.com and Calendar Club, are expected to net a gain of
approximately $0.13 per share. The value of the company's holdings in the
publicly-traded investments is $858 million or $12.08 per share. (See
attached schedule.)
Barnes & Noble previously reported a $0.06 per share non-cash, one time,
required write-off of pre-opening expenses, and a $0.04 per share write-off
of expenses connected with the attempted acquisition of Ingram.
On a consolidated basis, earnings for the year 1999 are expected to be
$1.74 per share, an increase of 35 percent over 1998. Guidance for
consolidated results for the year 2000 will be issued within the next 30
days.
The company also reported that sales of electronic gift cards, increases in
customer orders from the barnesandnoble.com title database, strong music,
children's and cafe sales contributed to the improved results. Contributing
as well, were incremental sales resulting from cross-promotional efforts
and joint-advertising programs with barnesandnoble.com. Most importantly,
sales in barnesandnoble.com grew from $26 million in the last quarter of
1998 to $82 million in the last quarter of 1999, resulting in a
significantly higher percentage of barnesandnoble.com to retail sales.
Nonetheless, quarter-to-date comparable sales at Barnes & Noble "super"
stores increased 7.0 percent.
"We are all extremely pleased with our results for the past year, and we
anticipate more good things to come. The most important message to emerge
from the holiday season and for fiscal 1999 is that sales of books online
are largely additive and together with the promotional activities of our
"super" stores are clearly growing the book market. This bodes well for the
future of book retailing, including book retailing online and for Barnes &
Noble, whose share of the book market continues to grow," said Leonard
Riggio, chairman and chief executive officer of Barnes & Noble, Inc.
About Barnes & Noble, Inc.
Barnes & Noble stores stock an authoritative selection of book titles and
provide access to more than one million titles. We offer books from more
than 50,000 publisher imprints with an emphasis on small, independent
publishers and university presses. Barnes & Noble is one of the world's
largest booksellers on the World Wide Web (http://www.bn.com), and the
exclusive bookseller on America Online (Keyword: bn). The company also
publishes books under its own imprint for exclusive sale through its retail
stores, mail-order catalogs, and Web site. Barnes & Noble recently acquired
Babbage's Etc., one of the nation's largest operators of video game and
entertainment software stores.
SAFE HARBOR
This release may contain forward-looking statements regarding expectations
of the company. These statements are based on currently available
information and represent the beliefs of the management of the company. The
future events which are the subject of such statements are subject to
certain risks, including those set forth in the company's annual, quarterly
and periodic reports on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
# # #
General financial information on Barnes & Noble, Inc. can be obtained via
the Internet by visiting the company's investor relations Web site:
http//www.shareholder.com/bks/.
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