Barnes & Noble announced that it has eliminated its dividend to conserve capital; and will no longer give guidance for the current year, citing Borders’ Chapter 11 filing “and the potential short-term impact that their announced store closures may have in the marketplace.”
The dividend cut will allow the company to conserve capital “to continue investing into its high growth digital strategies, while simultaneously allowing the company to take advantage of any other market opportunities that may present themselves.”
The two changes were in the context of B&N’s quarterly report, which actually showed a 7% sales increase for the quarter ending January 29th. The company made $60 million in the quarter, in-line with its (although not necessarily analysts’) expectations.
Same store sales were up 7.3%; online sales were up 64%; and college bookstore sales were down 2%. Nook and digital sales were major contributors. Sales of digital books are twice the sales of paper ones at BN.com.
Expanded Toys & Games sections led to sales increases of 47% in the category.
