Sweden’s Akademibokhandeln Holding AB has released its Q2 results and it’s not looking good.
Turnover down from 316.7 million kronor in 2017 to 314.9 million kronor ($34 million) this year. Operating profit before depreciation and amortisation decreased from SEK 1.9 million to minus 28.1 million (-$3 million).
Profit after tax has decreased from – SEK 28.5 million last year, to – SEK 31.9 million (-$3.5 million) in 2018.
Akademibokhandeln CEO Maria Edsman suggest the heatwave didn’t help, but told Svensk Bokhandel,
The reason is that we have higher margins in stores than in e-commerce, while the stores have many more fixed costs. We sell less in high margin and more in low margin.
Edsman added,
We have invested in business development to grow up in the growing channels, e-commerce and digital subscription services, and it has driven up costs.
Akademibokhandel’s own streaming service, Bokus Play, launched in March, against stiff competition from established players like Storytel and BookBeat, adding to the investment losses that can hopefully be recouped down the road.
When looking at revenue, bear in mind Swede is a country of fewer than 10 million people.
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