Profits 'For Dummies': John Wiley & Sons Reports Higher Profits, Earnings

Textbook and nonfiction publisher John Wiley & Sons (JW.A) reported healthy profits and earnings for the third quarter Thursday, thanks to a "record setting year" in the education division and some strong currency gains.

The publisher reported sales of $427 million, a 14% increase over last year (although that number was closer to 5% with foreign currency exchange factored in), and operating income rose 8% to $68.3 million. The adjusted net income of 71 cents a share, up 25%, was strong but didn't meet analysts' expectations of 74 cents a share.

The higher-education division did very well, with sales up 23% to nearly $92 million, while the Scientfic, Technical, Medical and Scholarly (STMS) side recorded sales of $228.4 million, up 13%. The professional and trade division, responsible for the "For Dummies" how-to books and the Meredith Brands, reported a 10% earnings uptick to $107 million for the quarter, or 7% with currency exchange taken into account. Wiley also factored in a pre-tax asset impairment and restructuring charge of approximately $2.8 million (or $0.03 per share) principally related to the company's controlled-circulation magazine business.

"All of our global businesses performed well in the third quarter," said President and CEO William Pesce in the earnings release, singling out the higher-education side for "out-performing the market with strong results in all geographic regions and subject categories." Pesce added that "revenue growth and lower interest expense were more than offset by an unfavorable comparison to the significant reduction in incentive compensation in last year's third quarter and a higher income tax rate in 2010 due to lower foreign tax benefits," and projects continued earnings share growth in the fourth quarter.

Wiley also announced it will be the exclusive global publisher for Bloomberg Press, the newswire and magazine's business-book publishing arm. The news also comes as Bloomberg BusinessWeek is in the process of laying off further staffers, as reported by DailyFinance this week.