Courier Records Modest Declines in Q4, Net Loss for Fiscal Year

In Courier’s specialty publishing segment, with consumer spending down and book retailers managing inventories tightly, sales for the year were down 24%. Much of this decline occurred at Creative Homeowner, the business most directly affected by the weak housing market. However, more than 70% of the reduction in Creative Homeowner sales was due to the winding-down of its unprofitable book distribution operation early in 2009, a move which enabled Creative Homeowner to reduce its operating loss substantially from a year ago. The weak economy also affected the publishing segment’s other two businesses, Dover Publications and Research & Education Association (REA), with combined full-year sales at Dover and REA down 12%.