This press release has real information. It even indicates what sold and how of it sold:
:Media Contact: Investor Contact:
Mary Ellen Keating Maureen O'Connell
Senior Vice President Chief Financial Officer
Corporate Communications Barnes & Noble, Inc.
Barnes & Noble, Inc. (212) 633-3338
(212) 633-3323
BARNES & NOBLE "SUPER" STORE HOLIDAY SALES INCREASED BY 6.1 PERCENT
BARNES & NOBLE "SUPER" STORE HOLIDAY COMPARABLE SALES INCREASED 1.3 PERCENT
BARNES & NOBLE "SUPER" STORE COMPARABLE SALES YEAR-TO-DATE INCREASED 4.9 PERCENT
New York, NY (January 9, 2001) - Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS), the nation's largest bookseller, today reported record "super" store sales of $763.7 million for the nine-week period from October 29, 2000 to December 30, 2000, an increase of $43.7 million (6.1 percent) over the same period last year. Comparable "super" store sales increased 1.3 percent during the holiday period. For the 48 weeks ended December 30, 2000, "super" store sales rose 10.1 percent to $2,859.5 million from $2,596.8 million and represented 89 percent of total Barnes & Noble Booksellers sales. Barnes & Noble "super" store comparable sales increased 4.9 percent for the 48-week period.
For the fourth quarter, comparable "super" store sales are expected to increase between 1.5 and 2.0 percent due to the better-than-expected trends experienced after January 1, 2001.
B. Dalton sales for the nine-week period of $107.9 million decreased $19.8 million (15.5 percent) from the prior year primarily due to the closing of 55 stores. Comparable sales decreased 3.3 percent for the same period. For the 48 weeks ended December 30, 2000, B. Dalton sales decreased $56.6 million to $344.0 million (14.1 percent), while comparable sales decreased 1.9 percent.
Babbage's reported sales of $255.4 million for the holiday period, an increase of 35.2 percent over the prior year. Comparable store sales for the nine-week period decreased 12.5 percent. The comparable sales decline was due to a slowdown in traffic and demand exacerbated by the shortage of PlayStation 1 and PlayStation 2 in the market. Sales for the 48-week period were $685.9 million, an increase of 32.2 percent. Comparable sales decreased 7.5 percent during the same period.
The strong video game and accessories sales trends Babbage's had experienced this year slowed in the last several weeks, as consumers' demand for video games and accessories for other platforms declined with continued anticipation of PlayStation 2. Furthermore, Babbage's did not begin to receive their resupply of PlayStation 2 until late in the holiday season, and it was not enough to make up for earlier shortfalls. Accordingly, Babbage's was unable to achieve their anticipated tie ratio of software and accessories to hardware for PlayStation 2.
Based upon weaker-than-expected holiday sales, the company estimates fourth-quarter earnings in the bookseller segment to be $1.30 compared to consensus estimates of $1.46. Additionally, the video game segment is expected to earn $0.06 compared to consensus estimates of $0.33.
Sales for the 53-week period ending February 3, 2001 will be released on February 22, 2001. At that time, the company will provide more detail on the fourth quarter as well as preliminary guidance for 2001.
"We were obviously disappointed by sales for this holiday season, particularly because we had been outperforming the retail sector as a whole for the previous nine months," said Leonard Riggio, chairman and chief executive officer of Barnes & Noble, Inc. "The election fiasco seemed to be a significant cause of the shortfall, since sales dropped dramatically the day after the election and remained soft until the issue was resolved. Perhaps this was due to the nature of our demographic audience (interested, involved, educated voters), or due to a connected problem publishers described as not getting air time for their "hot" seasonal authors. The good news is that sales for January seem to be right on track with our previous forecast of 4% -- not enough to make up for the holiday shortfall - but a good sign nonetheless."
Mr. Riggio continued, "Although we expected some weakness in Babbage's sales due to the widely known product shortage of PlayStation 2, we did not expect shipments to be reduced to the levels we experienced. Supplies of PlayStation 2 product sold out within minutes of arrival at our stores. Nor did we expect consumers to reject the other products in the pipeline owing to their insistence on waiting for the newer platforms to arrive. Nonetheless, we left millions of customers unsatisfied in their quest to upgrade, which certainly bodes well for the upcoming year, and the years to come. Hopefully, the competition between the two giants in video games (Sony and Nintendo) and the coming arrival of the Xbox (Microsoft) will result in a rush to produce enough products to satisfy the enormous market demand which already exists. We remain optimistic about prospects for 2001."
About Barnes & Noble, Inc.
Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS) operates 559 Barnes & Noble and 378 B. Dalton bookstores, and, with its acquisition of Babbage's Etc. and Funco, Inc., is the nation's largest operator of video game and entertainment software stores. Barnes & Noble stores stock an authoritative selection of book titles and provide access to more than one million titles. They 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). Barnes & Noble.com has the largest standing inventory of any online bookseller. Barnes & Noble also publishes books under its own imprint for exclusive sale through its retail stores and Web site.
General financial information on Barnes & Noble, Inc. can be obtained via the Internet by visiting the company's corporate Web site: barnesandnobleinc.com.
Safe Harbor
This press release contains "forward-looking statements." Barnes & Noble is including this statement for the express purpose of availing itself of the protections of the safe harbor provided by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 with respect to all such forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based on currently available information and represent the beliefs of the management of the company. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially. These risks include, but are not limited to, general economic and market conditions, decreased consumer demand for the company's products, possible disruptions in the company's computer or telephone systems, possible work stoppages or increases in labor costs, possible increases in shipping rates or interruptions in shipping service, effects of competition, possible disruptions or delays in the opening of new stores or the inability to !
obtain suitable sites for new stores, higher than anticipated store closing or relocation costs, higher interest rates, the performance of the company's online and other initiatives, the successful integration of acquired businesses, unanticipated increases in merchandise or occupancy costs, unanticipated adverse litigation results or effects, product shortages, and other factors which may be outside of the company's control. Please refer to the company's annual, quarterly and periodic reports on file with the SEC for a more detailed discussion of these and other risks that could cause results to differ materially.
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