Turning to the first quarter, consolidated sales declined 1.5%, to 1.2 billion. We encourage you to separately review their release, and listen to their call, and ask that you reserve any questions pertaining to the College business for their management. College, now trading publicly as Barnes & Noble Education, also released their earnings this morning, and has a call scheduled today, at 11:30 a.m. Going forward, we expect College to be treated as a discontinued operation, starting with the company's second quarter results. The first quarter results include the Barnes & Noble College segment, as the spin-off occurred right after the quarter ended. Comparisons are to the prior year question, unless otherwise noted. This morning we released our fiscal 2016 first quarter financial results. And now, I will turn the call over to Allen for the business review. I look forward to speaking with you in the future. We will further integrate our stores, Web site, and NOOK businesses to create a strong omni-channel presence that gives our customers the ability to buy any book, anywhere, anytime, and in any format. One of my top objectives is working with this great team to build on their work, and this great brand as we develop our growth strategies for the future.īarnes & Noble is a premier brand, and our stores provide an incredible service for our customers. These efforts, coupled with industry improvement, have led to improvement in core comparable sales over the past few years. Our merchandising initiatives have made it easier for our customers to discover and purchase our products. This team has done an amazing job to improve performance of our stores, drive traffic in sales through events and campaigns, like Get Pop-Cultured, a month-long celebration of pop culture. I'm excited to work with them and the entire team on our growth opportunities. I spent time with Jaime Carey, our COO, Mark Bottini, our Head of Stores, and Fred Argir, our new Chief Digital Officer, and many other members in the management team. This is a great time to join the company, now as we focus on growing our business. This company has accomplished a lot over the last couple of years, including the stabilization of comparable store sales, the reduction of NOOK's losses, and more recently, the spin-off of the College business. I'm very excited to be part of Barnes & Noble, and all the terrific things that this brand represents. I'll be brief with my comments this morning, as it is only my second day with the company.
The company disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements that may be discussed during the call.Īt this time, I'll turn the call over to Ron. These statements are based on current expectations and assumptions that are subject to risks and uncertainties, including those contained in our press release. It is not for rebroadcast or use by any other party without the prior written consent of Barnes & Noble.ĭuring this call, we will be making forward-looking statements, which are predictions, projections or other statements about future events. Before we begin, I'd like to remind you that this call is covered by the Safe Harbor disclaimer contained in our press release and public documents and is the property of Barnes & Noble. Joining us today are Ron Boire, Allen Lindstrom, Jaime Carey, and other members of our senior management team. Good morning, and welcome to Barnes & Noble's Fiscal 2016 First Quarter Earnings Conference Call.
At this time, for opening remarks and introductions, I would like to turn the call over to the Vice President of Investor Relations, Mr. Good day, and welcome to this Barnes & Noble First Quarter 2016 Earnings Conference Call. ( NYSE: BKS) Q1 2016 Earnings Conference Call Septem10:00 AM ET