Indigo Books and Music, is the largest bookselling chain in Canada and over the course of the pandemic, they have been consistently losing money every quarter. Revenue for the second quarter ended September 26, 2020 was $205.3 million compared to revenue of $203.4 million in the same period last year, an increase of $1.9 million. Indigo reported a loss before income taxes of $17.5 million, compared to a loss before income taxes of $27.9 million last year, an improvement of $10.4 million. This was achieved through improved operating performance and lower depreciation in the year.
Commenting on the results, CEO Heather Reisman said: “Our team has put out extraordinary effort over the last eight months and meaningfully pushed our business forward notwithstanding the challenges of operating in a COVID environment. This quarter, we successfully launched our proprietary home brand Oui and have seen continued success in our core categories of wellness, reading and kids entertainment. We also launched an industry leading click-and-collect service and on-boarded Instacart. These advances allow us to provide our customers with ‘have it your way’ access channels. We are energized by these results, and by customers’ continued affinity for our brand.”
“Traffic remains well below historical levels, with the result that sales are still not where they were pre-COVID,” CEO Heather Reisman said Wednesday during an investor call. “Our downtown stores, generally our biggest contributors both in sales and profits, continue to be particularly impacted by changes in work habits,” she said, noting that those stores are seeing “very limited activity compared with normal times.”
With no outstanding debt and a cash balance of $137.5 million, Indigo said it is positioned to “manage through these very uncertain times. Our team has put out extraordinary effort over the last eight months and meaningfully pushed our business forward notwithstanding the challenges of operating in a COVID environment,” Reisman said in a statement.
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
