Publisher John Wiley and Sons Inc. (JWA) reported Thursday that its profit for the first quarter of fiscal 2012 increased 15 percent, driven by higher tax benefit and increased revenues from Scientific, Technical, Medical and Scholarly segment. Adjusted earnings grew from last year, but missed Street projections. Further, the company backed its fiscal 2012 earnings and revenue growth forecast.
Net income for the first quarter grew to $50.80 million or $0.82 per share from $44.05 million or $0.72 per share last year.
The latest quarter results included deferred tax benefit of $8.8 million or $0.14 per share due to a change in statutory tax rates in fiscal year 2012, higher than last year's $4.2 million or $0.07 per share. The tax benefit was derived from two consecutive legislative reductions in the UK corporate income tax rates, the company noted.
Excluding this, net income increased 5 percent to $42.03 million or $0.68 per share from $39.89 million or $0.65 per share in the prior year.
On average, analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected earnings of $0.75 per share for the quarter. Such estimates typically exclude special items.
The company noted that a 7 percent rise in in total costs and operating and administrative expenses were almost offset by 70 percent drop in interest expense, a lower effective tax rate and gross margin growth.
The company's operating profit declined 5 percent year-over-year to $60.15 million, hurt by higher expenses.
Quarterly revenues rose 5 percent to $430.07 million from $407.94 million in the prior year, beating Wall Street analysts' consensus estimate of $428.13 million.
For the quarter, revenues from Scientific, Technical, Medical and Scholarly segment grew 10 percent to $252.72 million, which partly offset flat revenues from Professional/Trade segment and a 2 percent drop in revenues from higher education.
Looking ahead, John Wiley backed its fiscal 2012 earnings forecast between $3.15 and $3.20 per share, with mid-single-digit revenue growth excluding foreign exchange.
The company noted that if the U.S. dollar remains near current levels over the remainder of the fiscal year, it anticipates upside of up to $0.10 per share. Wall Street analysts anticipate earnings of $3.14 per share for the full-year 2012.
JWA closed Wednesday's regular trading session at $48.01, up $2.20, on a volume of 74,400 shares.
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