BNC First Day Program Revenues Increased 32%
Recent Initiatives Expected to Drive Over $10 Million of Go-Forward Savings
BASKING RIDGE, N.J., Sept. 10, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Barnes & Noble Education, Inc. (NYSE:BNED), a leading solutions provider for the education industry, today reported sales and earnings for the first quarter ended on July 27, 2024. The following figures are GAAP results from continuing operations on a consolidated basis, unless noted otherwise. Note that Adjusted EBITDA is a non-GAAP calculation. Full quarterly financial tables and a reconciliation of non-GAAP measures to the most applicable GAAP measures can be found in the Investor Relations section of BNED's website at https://investor.bned.com and its Current Report on Form 8-K filed with the SEC on the date of this release.
Barnes & Noble Education is a highly seasonal business, and the first quarter is historically a period of low sales activity for the Company. First quarter fiscal year 2025 revenue decreased by $(0.7) million, or -0.3%, from last year to $263.4 million, primarily driven by a net decrease in physical locations, many of which were closures of underperforming stores, which has helped to improve profitability. Revenues from BNC First Day programs increased approximately $19.6 million, or 32%, helping to offset much of the decline.
Overall net loss was $(99.5) million, which was elevated due to one-time expenses related to the recent milestone equity and refinancing transactions1, including a non-cash charge of $(55.2) million due to the extinguishment of debt caused by the conversion of our second lien debt into equity. This event meaningfully strengthened the Company's balance sheet. Adjusted EBITDA improved by $5.2 million from last year to $(20.7) million, in part due to lower selling and administrative expenses of $10.5 million as the result of cost-saving and productivity initiatives.
Jonathan Shar, CEO, noted, "It was a very busy quarter as we completed our milestone equity and refinancing transactions and worked hard to prepare for the upcoming Fall Rush with our store teams, vendors and other business partners. We are excited by the momentum and fresh energy as we enter the new academic year.
"The rapid growth of our BNC First Day programs is a bright spot for our business, and we anticipate continued growth as numerous institutions adopt our affordable access models for the benefit of their students' academic success through improved affordability, access and convenience."
Shar further added, "Our stores are well stocked for Fall Rush, and we are prepared to support students across the country in their academic journey, ensuring they have the resources they need to succeed while providing all of our customers with an unmatched product assortment and retail experience."
Barnes & Noble Education is focused on driving material improvements in its profitability and seeks to further build upon the strong financial foundation that it recently attained from the milestone transactions. Management is working on consolidating and simplifying its operations to better focus on its core physical and virtual bookstore businesses. Recently completed and in-progress initiatives comprised of over $10.0 million in go-forward savings include the following:
Streamlining corporate employee staffing levels.
Optimizing, consolidating and bidding out various insurance programs.
Repricing, eliminating or consolidating multiple IT and telecom vendors and programs. These efforts included enhancing certain customer support services by utilizing insourcing.
Changing certain professional service providers and eliminating lower-impact investor and communication resources.
In the medium term, BNED believes that there are opportunities to materially improve its working capital position by lowering certain credit reserves, improving inventory turns, and enhancing the Company's overall capital allocation framework.
BNED is also working to launch a new stock compensation program, linking elements of compensation to stock price performance, for a broad range of employees that will promote a more ownership-minded culture and ...
