Barnes & Noble Education Q1 Loss Widens, But Loss/shr Narrows

(RTTNews) - Barnes & Noble Education, Inc. (BNED) reported that its net loss available to common shareholders for its fiscal 2016 first quarter ended August 1st, 2015 was $26.92 million or $0.65 per share, compared to a net loss of $26.66 million and $0.71 per share, in the prior year.

The Company reported, on a carve-out basis since it was still part of Barnes & Noble, Inc. (BKS), a net loss of $26.9 million which was $0.7 million higher than the prior year for this non-rush, seasonal low quarter.

As previously disclosed, the Company became a separate public company on August 2nd, 2015, after Barnes & Noble, Inc. completed the separation of its Retail and College businesses.

First quarter sales were $239.0 million, up $13.3 million, or 5.9%, as compared to the prior year. Comparable sales increased 1.8% during a non-rush period with strong contributions from general merchandise sales which increased 7.3% for the quarter.

For fiscal year 2016, the Company continues to expect comparable store sales to increase by 1%, and capital expenditures to be approximately $55 million.