Update on Full-Year 2020 Outlook
Barnes & Noble Education, Inc. (NYSE: BNED), a
leading solutions provider for the education industry, today
announced various steps it is taking to help address some of the
challenges that the schools and students it serves are facing due
to the disruptions caused by the COVID-19 virus.
Yesterday, the Company announced that it has joined VitalSource®
and other leading publishers in providing free access to eTextbooks
for students at BNED campuses that have closed due to COVID-19
through the remainder of the Spring 2020 term. Given the continued
transition to online and distance learning programs by colleges and
universities nationwide, to help students, BNED is also offering
targeted free self-tutoring and writing services through its
bartleby® suite of services, which will continue to provide
students with 24/7 on-demand access to academic assistance.
Michael P. Huseby, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman, BNED,
said, “Our top priority remains providing schools and students with
solutions during this time of unprecedented disruption, while
simultaneously protecting the health and safety of our employees
and customers. As an organization, we are closely monitoring the
continuing developments and following the guidance of the World
Health Organization, Center for Disease Control (CDC) and local
health authorities. While we cannot predict how long this situation
will last, BNED remains committed to actively supporting our
students, faculty and the educational institutions we serve during
this time. Given the economic uncertainty associated with the
ongoing COVID-19 outbreak, including the continued closures of
educational institutions nationwide, we are limited in our ability
to accurately predict what the negative financial impact to BNED
will be in fiscal 2020, and therefore believe it is appropriate to
withdraw financial guidance for fiscal 2020.”
BNED’s fiscal fourth quarter is historically a lower revenue
quarter for the company because it does not include the fall and
spring back-to-school rush periods; nonetheless, due to the
uncertainty regarding the duration and extent of the disruptions
caused by COVID-19, BNED is withdrawing its fiscal 2020 outlook.
The Company does not intend to provide further updates to its
fiscal year 2020 outlook unless deemed appropriate.
ABOUT BARNES & NOBLE EDUCATION, INC.
Barnes & Noble Education, Inc. (NYSE: BNED) is a
leading solutions provider for the education industry, driving
affordability, access and achievement at hundreds of academic
institutions nationwide and ensuring millions of students are
equipped for success in the classroom and beyond. Through its
family of brands, BNED offers campus retail services and academic
solutions, a digital direct-to-student learning ecosystem,
wholesale capabilities and more. BNED is a company serving all who
work to elevate their lives through education, supporting students,
faculty and institutions as they make tomorrow a better, more
inclusive and smarter world. For more information, visit
www.bned.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains certain “forward-looking statements”
within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act
of 1995 and information relating to us and our business that are
based on the beliefs of our management as well as assumptions made
by and information currently available to our management. When used
in this communication, the words “anticipate,” “believe,”
“estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “plan,” “will,” “forecasts,”
“projections,” and similar expressions, as they relate to us or our
management, identify forward-looking statements. Moreover, we
operate in a very competitive and rapidly changing environment. New
risks emerge from time to time. It is not possible for our
management to predict all risks, nor can we assess the impact of
all factors on our business or the extent to which any factor, or
combination of factors, may cause actual results to differ
materially from those contained in any forward-looking statements
we may make. In light of these risks, uncertainties and
assumptions, the future events and trends discussed in this press
release may not occur and actual results could differ materially
and adversely from those anticipated or implied in the
forward-looking statements. Such statements reflect our current
views with respect to future events, the outcome of which is
subject to certain risks, including, among others: general
competitive conditions, including actions our competitors and
content providers may take to grow their businesses; a decline in
college enrollment or decreased funding available for students;
decisions by colleges and universities to outsource their physical
and/or online bookstore operations or change the operation of their
bookstores; implementation of our digital strategy may not result
in the expected growth in our digital sales and/or profitability;
risk that digital sales growth does not exceed the rate of
investment spend; the performance of our online, digital and other
initiatives, integration of and deployment of, additional products
and services including new digital channels, and enhancements to
higher education digital products, and the inability to achieve the
expected cost savings; the risk of price reduction or change in
format of course materials by publishers, which could negatively
impact revenues and margin; the general economic environment and
consumer spending patterns; decreased consumer demand for our
products, low growth or declining sales; the strategic objectives,
successful integration, anticipated synergies, and/or other
expected potential benefits of various acquisitions may not be
fully realized or may take longer than expected; the integration of
the operations of various acquisitions into our own may also
increase the risk of our internal controls being found ineffective;
changes to purchase or rental terms, payment terms, return
policies, the discount or margin on products or other terms with
our suppliers; our ability to successfully implement our strategic
initiatives including our ability to identify, compete for and
execute upon additional acquisitions and strategic investments;
risks associated with operation or performance of MBS Textbook
Exchange, LLC’s point-of-sales systems that are sold to college
bookstore customers; technological changes; risks associated with
counterfeit and piracy of digital and print materials; our
international operations could result in additional risks; our
ability to attract and retain employees; risks associated with data
privacy, information security and intellectual property; trends and
challenges to our business and in the locations in which we have
stores; non-renewal of managed bookstore, physical and/or online
store contracts and higher-than-anticipated store closings;
disruptions to our information technology systems, infrastructure
and data due to computer malware, viruses, hacking and phishing
attacks, resulting in harm to our business and results of
operations; disruption of or interference with third party web
service providers and our own proprietary technology; work
stoppages or increases in labor costs; possible increases in
shipping rates or interruptions in shipping service; product
shortages, including decreases in the used textbook inventory
supply associated with the implementation of publishers’ digital
offerings and direct to student textbook consignment rental
programs, as well as the risks associated with the impacts that
public health crises may have on the ability of our suppliers to
manufacture or source products, particularly from outside of the
United States; changes in domestic and international laws or
regulations, including U.S. tax reform, changes in tax rates, laws
and regulations, as well as related guidance; enactment of laws or
changes in enforcement practices which may restrict or prohibit our
use of texts, emails, interest based online advertising, recurring
billing or similar marketing and sales activities; the amount of
our indebtedness and ability to comply with covenants applicable to
any future debt financing; our ability to satisfy future capital
and liquidity requirements; our ability to access the credit and
capital markets at the times and in the amounts needed and on
acceptable terms; adverse results from litigation, governmental
investigations, tax-related proceedings, or audits; changes in
accounting standards; and the other risks and uncertainties
detailed in the section titled “Risk Factors” in Part I - Item 1A
in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended April 27,
2019. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties
materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect,
actual results or outcomes may vary materially from those described
as anticipated, believed, estimated, expected, intended or planned.
Subsequent written and oral forward-looking statements attributable
to us or persons acting on our behalf are expressly qualified in
their entirety by the cautionary statements in this paragraph. We
undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any
forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information,
future events or otherwise after the date of this press
release.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200317005224/en/
Media Contact: Carolyn J.
Brown Senior Vice President Corporate Communications and Public
Affairs Barnes & Noble Education, Inc. (908) 991-2967
cbrown@bned.com
Investor Contact: Andy
Milevoj Vice President Corporate Finance and Investor Relations
Barnes & Noble Education, Inc. (908) 991-2776
amilevoj@bned.com
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