Courier's Revenues, Net Income Rebound in First Quarter

First-quarter revenues for the segment were $11.6 million, up slightly from $11.5 million in last year’s first quarter. Sales were up 18% at Dover and up 48% at REA, spurred by strong sales of Dover books in several categories and REA’s largest quarterly launch of new titles ever. Creative Homeowner sales were down 61%, reflecting continued weakness in store traffic at home centers, the company’s largest sales channel. This decrease in sales also reflected the company’s cessation of its book distribution services in early January 2009, which contributed approximately $1.2 million of revenue in last year’s first quarter. Overall, the segment lost $514,000 in the quarter, versus a loss of $1.9 million a year ago. This improvement reflects both the revenue growth at Dover and REA and the effects of cost reduction measures implemented in fiscal 2009.