Scholastic Corp (SCHL) 2024 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Thank you for standing by, and welcome to today's conference entitled Scholastic reports first quarter fiscal year 2024 results. (Operator Instructions) As a reminder, today's program is being recorded. One moment and I will go ahead and introduce our host for today's program, Jeff Mathews, Executive Vice President, Corporate Development and Investor Relations. Please go ahead, sir.

感謝您的耐心等待，歡迎參加今天題為 Scholastic 報告 2024 財年第一季業績的會議。 （操作員指示）提醒一下，今天的節目正在錄製中。我將先介紹今天節目的主持人，企業發展和投資者關係執行副總裁傑夫馬修斯 (Jeff Mathews)。請繼續，先生。

Hello, and welcome, everyone, to Scholastic's Fiscal 2024 First Quarter Earnings Call. Today on the call, I'm joined by Peter Warwick, our President and Chief Executive Officer; and Ken Cleary, our Chief Financial Officer. As usual, we have posted the investor presentation on our IR website, investor.scholastic.com, which you may download now if you've not already done so.

大家好，歡迎大家參加 Scholastic 2024 財年第一季財報電話會議。今天，我們的總裁兼執行長 Peter Warwick 也加入了我的電話會議。以及我們的財務長 Ken Cleary。像往常一樣，我們已在投資者關係網站 Investor.scholastic.com 上發布了投資者演示文稿，如果您尚未下載，您可以立即下載。

We'd like to point out that certain statements made today will be forward looking. These forward-looking statements, by their nature, are subject to various risks and uncertainties, and actual results may differ materially from those currently anticipated.

我們想指出，今天發表的某些聲明將具有前瞻性。這些前瞻性陳述本質上會受到各種風險和不確定性的影響，實際結果可能與目前預期有重大差異。

In addition, we will be discussing some non-GAAP financial measures as defined in Regulation G. The reconciliations of those measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measures may be found in the company's earnings release and accompanying financial tables filed this afternoon on a Form 8-K. This earnings release has also been posted to our Investor Relations website.

此外，我們將討論法規 G 中定義的一些非 GAAP 財務指標。這些指標與最直接可比較的 GAAP 指標的調整可以在公司今天下午提交的表格 8 的收益發布和隨附財務表格中找到。-K。該收益報告也已發佈到我們的投資者關係網站上。

I encourage you to review the disclaimers in the release and investor presentation and to review the risk factors disclosed in the company's annual and quarterly reports filed with the SEC. Should you have any questions after today's call, please send them directly to our IR e-mail address, investor_relations@scholastic.com.

我鼓勵您查看新聞稿和投資者介紹中的免責聲明，並查看公司向 SEC 提交的年度和季度報告中披露的風險因素。如果您在今天的電話會議後有任何疑問，請直接發送至我們的投資者關係電子郵件地址 Investor_relations@scholastic.com。

And now I'd like to turn the call over to Peter Warwick to begin this afternoon's presentation.

現在我想將電話轉給 Peter Warwick，讓他開始今天下午的演講。

Thank you, Jeff, and good afternoon, everyone. We're happy you're joining us. Scholastic began fiscal 2024 solidly, excited and well positioned for the year's back-to-school season, which represents another opportunity for Scholastic to work with families, educators and kids to address the critical needs for literacy, reading and stories. We continue to execute on our integrated strategy to drive growth, impact and shareholder value creation over the coming years, while we protect margins and sustain the growth that we achieved in fiscal 2023.

謝謝傑夫，大家下午好。我們很高興您加入我們。 Scholastic 踏實、興奮地開始了2024 財年，並為今年的返校季做好了充分準備，這為Scholastic 提供了與家庭、教育工作者和孩子們合作的另一個機會，以滿足讀寫能力、閱讀和故事的關鍵需求。我們將繼續執行綜合策略，以推動未來幾年的成長、影響力和股東價值創造，同時保護利潤率並維持 2023 財年實現的成長。

Last quarter, we continued to invest in strategic growth initiatives, including in go-to-market and blended product development capabilities in Education Solutions as we took further steps to ensure Scholastic is structured for future growth, executing reorganizations in our U.S. and Canadian Book Clubs and announcing key leadership changes. As we expected and previewed on last quarter's call, first quarter's operating loss grew from a year ago, reflecting these ongoing and onetime investments as well as the changing seasonality and timing of education revenues and planned spending ahead of expected growth in school reading events, our recently combined Book Fairs and Clubs division.

上季度，我們繼續投資於策略性成長計劃，包括教育解決方案的上市和混合產品開發能力，同時我們採取了進一步措施，確保Scholastic 的結構適應未來成長，並對我們的美國和加拿大讀書俱樂部進行重組並宣布關鍵領導層變動。正如我們在上季度電話會議中預期和預覽的那樣，第一季的營運虧損較上年同期有所增長，反映出這些持續性和一次性投資以及教育收入的季節性和時間變化以及學校閱讀活動預期成長之前的計劃支出，我們的最近合併了書展和俱樂部部門。

As a reminder, Scholastic typically records operating losses in the first and third quarters, which coincide with summer and winter school vacations in the Northern Hemisphere. We generate the greatest contribution in the seasonally important second and fourth quarters. Based on quarter 1 results, we are affirming our fiscal 2024 guidance for revenue growth of 3% to 5% and adjusted EBITDA of $190 million to $200 million, excluding the impact of onetime charges of $7 million to $10 million related to restructuring and cost savings activities. Our confidence in our outlook is also demonstrated by our continued share repurchases. In total, last quarter, we returned over $42 million to our shareholders.

需要提醒的是，Scholastic 通常會在第一季和第三季記錄營運虧損，這兩個季度恰逢北半球的夏季和冬季學校假期。我們在具有重要季節性的第二季和第四季做出了最大的貢獻。根據第一季業績，我們確認2024 財年營收成長3% 至5% 的指導方針，調整後EBITDA 為1.9 億美元至2 億美元，不包括與重組和成本節約相關的700 萬美元至1000 萬美元一次性費用的影響活動。我們持續的股票回購也證明了我們對前景的信心。上個季度，我們總共向股東返還了超過 4,200 萬美元。

This afternoon, I'd like to review our first quarter results and outlook for the rest of the year. Ken will then discuss our financial results in more detail. As I've done on past several calls, I'd like to begin with some comments on the macro environment in which we're operating. First, reading, literacy and learning remain a top focus for families, educators and leaders across our country and something that everyone can agree on, even as we're seeing increasing debate across our society including around education policy and book choice. Scholastic continues to be uniquely positioned to respond to these needs. As we've done for more than 100 years, we will continue to focus on serving kids, families and educators.

今天下午，我想回顧一下我們第一季的業績和今年剩餘時間的展望。然後肯將更詳細地討論我們的財務表現。正如我在過去幾次電話會議中所做的那樣，我想首先對我們所處的宏觀環境發表一些評論。首先，閱讀、識字和學習仍然是全國家庭、教育工作者和領導人的首要關注點，也是每個人都能達成共識的事情，儘管我們看到整個社會包括圍繞教育政策和書籍選擇的爭論越來越多。學樂繼續以獨特的優勢來滿足這些需求。正如我們 100 多年來所做的那樣，我們將繼續專注於為兒童、家庭和教育工作者提供服務。

Second, the global retail bookselling market continues to revert year-over-year to pre-pandemic levels as reflected in softness at retail and continued reductions in backlist inventory by book sellers. Based on NPD BookScan data, sales of children's and young adult books in the U.S. declined 8% during our first quarter. Notably, sales of our frontlist titles have been strong as I'll discuss in a moment. As we've said, despite short-term softness in the trade channel, our confidence in overall demand for children's books remains strong, bolstered by the positive same fair sales we saw last year in Book Fairs.

其次，全球零售圖書銷售市場繼續逐年恢復到疫情前的水平，這反映在零售業的疲軟和圖書銷售商的庫存持續減少。根據 NPD BookScan 數據，第一季美國兒童和青少年圖書銷量下降了 8%。值得注意的是，正如我稍後將討論的那樣，我們的熱門書籍的銷售一直很強勁。正如我們所說，儘管貿易通路短期疲軟，但我們對兒童讀物整體需求的信心依然強勁，這得益於去年書展上的積極銷售。

Third, having lapped the steep rise in paper manufacturing, freight and shipping costs that we saw during the pandemic, these costs, especially manufacturing and freight, have begun to fall. As Ken will discuss, this is first benefiting our inventory purchases and free cash flow and will flow through operating margins later this financial year.

第三，在經歷了疫情期間造紙、貨運和運輸成本的急劇上升之後，這些成本，特別是製造和貨運成本，已經開始下降。正如肯將討論的那樣，這首先有利於我們的庫存採購和自由現金流，並將在本財政年度晚些時候流向營業利潤。

With that, I'll provide a high-level overview of our first quarter 2024 results. In its seasonally smallest quarter, revenue in the Children's Book segment declined, driven by lower results in our consolidated trade channel. This primarily reflected industry-wide softness in the retail market as I just described. Multiple frontlist bestsellers in this quarter helped partly offset this. And standout successes included This Winter by Alice Oseman, the best-selling author of the Heartstopper series; The Bad Guys in Let the Games Begin! by Aaron Blabey; and The Official Harry Potter Cookbook. We also had strong sales of the new paperback edition of The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, Suzanne Collins' prequel to The Hunger Games series, ahead of the highly anticipated release of that movie this November.

接下來，我將簡要概述 2024 年第一季的業績。在季節性最低的季度，由於我們綜合貿易管道的業績下降，兒童圖書部門的收入有所下降。正如我剛才所描述的，這主要反映了零售市場全行業的疲軟。本季的多本暢銷書在一定程度上抵消了這一影響。傑出的成功作品包括《Heartstopper》系列暢銷書作者愛麗絲‧奧斯曼 (Alice Oseman) 的《今年冬天》(This Winter)； 《讓遊戲開始吧！》中的壞人作者：亞倫‧布萊比；和官方哈利波特食譜。蘇珊娜·柯林斯 (Suzanne Collins) 的《飢餓遊戲》系列前傳《鳥蛇歌謠》的新平裝本在今年 11 月備受期待的電影上映之前也取得了強勁的銷量。

Looking ahead at the fall and spring, we have a strong lineup with new titles in Dav Pilkey's Dog Man and Cat Kid Comic Club series, a new Heartstopper title; and Harry Potter, including the interactive MinaLima edition of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and The Harry Potter Wizarding Almanac. We're also looking forward to the release of the new Goosebumps TV series on Disney+ and Hulu on October 13. The series, which was developed and coproduced by Scholastic Entertainment, already has a lot of buzz, and Disney is supporting its launch with extensive marketing. We expect it will introduce a whole new generation of readers to this beloved Scholastic series of books, which has sold over 400 million copies to date and is the second best-selling kids series ever, second only to Harry Potter, which has sold over 600 million copies worldwide.

展望秋季和春季，我們將推出強大的陣容，包括 Dav Pilkey 的 Dog Man and Cat Kid Comic Club 系列的新作品，以及新的 Heartstopper 作品；和哈利波特，包括互動式 MinaLima 版《哈利波特與阿茲卡班的囚徒》和《哈利波特魔法年鑑》。 We're also looking forward to the release of the new Goosebumps TV series on Disney+ and Hulu on October 13. The series, which was developed and coproduced by Scholastic Entertainment, already has a lot of buzz, and Disney is supporting its launch with extensive行銷.我們預計它將向全新一代讀者介紹這個深受喜愛的Scholastic 系列圖書，該系列圖書迄今為止已售出超過4 億冊，是有史以來第二暢銷的兒童系列叢書，僅次於《哈利·波特》（已售出600 多冊）全球數百萬份。

This is another success by the Scholastic Entertainment team, whose focus is on building global brands and franchises through the virtuous cycle from page to screen and merchandising and back to the page. By developing Scholastic book titles and intellectual property into compelling viable media projects, we can partner with studios and streaming platforms, both domestically and internationally, to bring our brands to kids and families around the world. Goosebumps comes on the heels of the Peabody and Emmy Award-winning Stillwater series that Scholastic Entertainment coproduced for Apple TV+.

這是 Scholastic Entertainment 團隊的另一項成功，他們的重點是透過從頁面到螢幕、推銷再回到頁面的良性循環來打造全球品牌和特許經營權。透過將 Scholastic 圖書和智慧財產權開發成引人注目的可行媒體項目，我們可以與國內外的工作室和串流平台合作，將我們的品牌帶給世界各地的孩子和家庭。 《雞皮疙瘩》是在 Scholastic Entertainment 為 Apple TV+ 聯合製作的榮獲皮博迪獎和艾美獎的《斯蒂爾沃特》系列節目之後推出的。

Now turning to our unique school-based distribution channels. Scholastic Book Clubs and Fairs generate minimal revenue during the first quarter when schools are out, so the year-over-year trend last quarter is not meaningful. Over the past 2 years, we've transformed Book Fairs with new customer-centric strategies and operational improvements, which have resulted in higher participation, strong growth in fair count and revenue per fair and higher operating contribution. For back to school, we've now begun implementing these customer-centric strategies and operational improvements in Book Clubs. We remain optimistic about continued growth in Book Fairs this year. At the same time, our plan is to strategically transition Book Clubs to a smaller, more profitable core business this year, upon which we can grow going forward.

現在轉向我們獨特的校本通路。當學校放假時，學術讀書俱樂部和博覽會在第一季產生的收入很少，因此上季度的同比趨勢沒有意義。在過去的兩年裡，我們透過新的以客戶為中心的策略和營運改善對書展進行了改造，從而提高了參與度，展會數量和每屆展會收入的強勁增長以及更高的營運貢獻。回到學校後，我們現在開始在讀書俱樂部中實施這些以客戶為中心的策略和營運改進。我們對今年書展的持續成長保持樂觀。同時，我們的計劃是今年將讀書俱樂部策略性地轉型為規模更小、利潤更高的核心業務，以此為基礎，我們可以繼續發展。

Turning to Education Solutions. Last quarter, we continued investing to build capabilities and to focus the organization around executing our blended learning strategy under new leadership. First quarter sales were lower year-over-year as expected. This reflected 2 things: first, the shifting seasonality of this business is increasingly driven by the strength of our summer reading programs, which mostly benefit quarter 4; and second, the timing of revenues related to our growing state-sponsored programs, which vary year-to-year and are not typically correlated with the school year. We've also seen declines in supplemental instructional sales over the past few quarters related to the shift in prevailing approaches to literacy instruction and for which we are in the process of realigning our key product lines.

轉向教育解決方案。上季度，我們繼續投資建立能力，並使組織在新領導層的領導下專注於執行我們的混合學習策略。第一季銷售額低於預期，年減。這反映了兩件事：首先，這項業務的季節性變化越來越受到我們夏季閱讀計劃的推動，該計劃主要受益於第四季度；其次，與我們不斷增長的國家資助項目相關的收入時間，這些項目每年都有所不同，並且通常與學年無關。我們也看到過去幾季補充教學銷售額的下降，這與主流識字教學方法的轉變有關，為此我們正在重新調整我們的關鍵產品線。

We now have a clear long-term vision to grow our sales in literacy-focused blended learning programs like our newly launched Ready4Reading, which combine digital and print components. Our opportunity is to execute this long-term growth strategy while protecting and building on the long-term strength of our profitable print content businesses.

我們現在有一個明確的長期願景，即增加以掃盲為重點的混合學習計劃的銷售，例如我們新推出的 Ready4Reading，它結合了數位和印刷組件。我們的機會是執行這項長期成長策略，同時保護和建立我們獲利的印刷內容業務的長期實力。

In addition to continuing to build our long-term capabilities, last quarter, we took actions to optimize the organization and operating model. I'm delighted to have appointed Beth Polcari as our new President of Education Solutions, who will continue to advance this vision. Beth is a proven leader, including most recently as President of Scholastic's International division, which she led through the pandemic and oversaw significant operational improvements, especially in Scholastic's growth markets.

除了繼續建立我們的長期能力之外，上個季度我們還採取了優化組織和營運模式的行動。我很高興任命 Beth Polcari 為我們新任教育解決方案總裁，她將繼續推進這個願景。 Beth 是一位久經考驗的領導者，包括最近擔任學樂國際部門總裁，她領導該部門度過了大流行，並監督了重大營運改進，特別是在學樂增長市場。

Before that, she oversaw Scholastic's classroom magazines, digital subscriptions and teaching resources businesses, all of which are key foundations of our Education Solutions business today. Beth also led key digital growth initiatives, including the development of Scholastic Literacy Pro. Beth's leadership, deep knowledge of the education market and our businesses and strong operational focus will be invaluable as Education Solutions enters its next chapter.

在此之前，她負責管理 Scholastic 的課堂雜誌、數位訂閱和教學資源業務，所有這些都是我們當今教育解決方案業務的關鍵基礎。 Beth 也領導了關鍵的數位成長計劃，包括 Scholastic Literacy Pro 的開發。隨著教育解決方案進入下一個篇章，貝絲的領導能力、對教育市場和我們業務的深入了解以及強大的營運重點將變得非常寶貴。

Turning last to our International segment, which offers a significant long-term opportunity for Scholastic, both strategically as we build global publishing franchises such as we've done with Aaron Blabey's Bad Guys and financially as we grow our scale to further improve operating efficiencies and drive profitable growth. Last quarter, we completed the reorganization of Book Clubs in Canada in line with actions we took in the U.S. business. We're confident this will drive greater operational efficiencies beginning later this year.

最後談談我們的國際業務，它為Scholastic 提供了重要的長期機會，無論是戰略上我們建立全球出版特許經營權（例如我們與Aaron Blabey 的《壞傢伙》所做的那樣）還是財務上我們擴大規模以進一步提高營運效率和推動獲利成長。上季度，我們按照我們在美國業務中採取的行動，完成了加拿大讀書俱樂部的重組。我們相信，這將在今年稍後開始提高營運效率。

Softness in the global retail book market, however, continued to depress our major markets, particularly Canada and Australia, which impacted segment results. As we also announced last month, our CFO, Ken Cleary, has taken on responsibility for our International division and will be transitioning to become the full-time President of International as soon as the company appoints a successor for his current role as Chief Financial Officer. We have retained a nationally recognized search firm, which has begun the process of identifying and hiring a growth-oriented CFO to partner with our leadership team to deliver on Scholastic's long-term strategy.

然而，全球零售圖書市場的疲軟繼續抑制我們的主要市場，特別是加拿大和澳大利亞，從而影響了分部業績。正如我們上個月也宣布的那樣，我們的財務長肯·克利裡(Ken Cleary) 已接管我們的國際部門，一旦公司任命繼任者接替他目前的財務長職位，他將立即轉任國際部全職總裁。我們保留了一家全國公認的獵人頭公司，該公司已開始物色和聘請一位以成長為導向的首席財務官，與我們的領導團隊合作，以實現 Scholastic 的長期策略。

This is a great opportunity for Scholastic and for Ken. Ken has over 15 years of service in Scholastic's finance organization. Under his leadership as CFO, Scholastic successfully navigated the pandemic and dramatically increased efficiencies across our operations. He's an ideal successor to Beth as President of International given his deep knowledge of our domestic and international businesses. I'm confident that Ken will be a highly effective partner, helping the company's International subsidiaries realize their full potential.

這對 Scholastic 和 Ken 來說都是一個很好的機會。 Ken 在 Scholastic 的財務組織工作了超過 15 年。在他擔任財務長的領導下，學樂成功應對了這場流行病，並大幅提高了我們的營運效率。鑑於他對我們的國內和國際業務的深入了解，他是貝絲國際總裁的理想繼任者。我相信 Ken 將成為一位高效的合作夥伴，幫助公司的國際子公司充分發揮潛力。

So now I will turn the call over to Ken.

現在我將把電話轉給肯。

Thank you, Peter, and good afternoon, everyone. Today, I will refer to our adjusted results for the first quarter, excluding onetime items in fiscal 2024, unless otherwise indicated. Note that we recorded no onetime items in fiscal 2023. Please refer to our press release tables and SEC filings for a complete discussion of onetime items.

謝謝你，彼得，大家下午好。今天，除非另有說明，我將提及我們第一季的調整後業績，不包括 2024 財年的一次性項目。請注意，我們在 2023 財年沒有記錄一次性項目。請參閱我們的新聞稿表和 SEC 文件，以了解一次性項目的完整討論。

As Peter discussed earlier, we are excited for this year's back-to-school season. After a strong finish to fiscal 2023, results in our seasonally quiet first quarter were in line with our expectations, including a greater year-over-year operating loss. Over the past 3 months, we have made progress and executed organizational improvements across all 3 of our business segments. I am proud of our team's hard work and preparations ahead of the back-to-school season. These actions have positioned us for upcoming fall and spring seasons, and we look forward to continuing our progress next quarter and beyond.

正如彼得之前討論的那樣，我們對今年的返校季節感到興奮。在 2023 財年的強勁收官之後，季節性平靜的第一季業績符合我們的預期，包括同比營業虧損更大。在過去的 3 個月裡，我們在所有 3 個業務部門都取得了進展並進行了組織改進。我為我們團隊在返校季節之前的辛勤工作和準備工作感到自豪。這些行動使我們為即將到來的秋季和春季做好了準備，我們期待下個季度及以後繼續取得進展。

Turning to our consolidated financial results. First quarter revenues decreased 13% to $228.5 million. Operating loss in the quarter was $92.8 million, down from $58.1 million from the prior year period. Net loss was $69.5 million compared to $45.5 million in the prior year period, and adjusted EBITDA was a loss of $70.6 million from $35.6 million a year ago. Loss per diluted share was $2.20 compared to a loss of $1.33 last year. Year-to-date free cash use was $57.8 million, improving from $76.5 million in the prior year period. As discussed, first quarter's operating loss grew from a year ago as expected. After a record generating operating income in the fourth quarter, we anticipated these results as we continue to prioritize strategic investments and growth initiatives and execute on our plan in the School Reading Events business.

轉向我們的綜合財務表現。第一季營收下降 13% 至 2.285 億美元。本季營運虧損為 9,280 萬美元，低於去年同期的 5,810 萬美元。淨虧損為 6,950 萬美元，上年同期為 4,550 萬美元；調整後 EBITDA 為虧損 7,060 萬美元，上年同期為 3,560 萬美元。攤薄後每股虧損為 2.20 美元，去年為虧損 1.33 美元。年初至今的自由現金使用量為 5,780 萬美元，高於去年同期的 7,650 萬美元。如所討論的，第一季的營運虧損較上年同期有所成長，符合預期。在第四季度創造創紀錄的營業收入後，我們預計會出現這些結果，因為我們將繼續優先考慮策略投資和成長計劃，並執行我們在學校閱讀活動業務中的計劃。

Additionally, our Education Solutions business saw lower sales, driven by the timing of revenues related to our growing state-sponsored programs and the shifting seasonality of sales to be more Q4 weighted. As Peter explained, we typically record an operating loss in our first and third quarters due to the highly seasonal nature of our business. We remain positive about the remainder of the year and continue to focus on protecting margins and sustaining growth in fiscal 2024 as we execute on our long-term growth and shareholder value creation strategy.

此外，我們的教育解決方案業務的銷售額有所下降，這是由於與我們不斷增長的國家資助計劃相關的收入時機以及銷售季節性向第四季度的權重轉變所致。正如彼得所解釋的那樣，由於我們業務的季節性很強，我們通常會在第一季和第三季出現營運虧損。我們對今年剩餘時間保持樂觀，並在執行長期成長和股東價值創造策略的同時，繼續專注於保護利潤率和維持 2024 財年的成長。

Now turning to our segment results. In Children's Book Publishing and Distribution, revenues for the first quarter decreased 18% to $102.8 million. Segment operating loss increased $11.4 million from the prior year period to $41.5 million. Segment performance in the first quarter trailed the prior year, primarily driven by continued softness in the retail book market and planned spending ahead of expected growth in the School Reading Events business. Book Fair revenues declined 4% to $27.3 million in the quarter. Revenues and profits are not meaningful as schools are largely not in session in the summer. As noted on our previous earnings call, we expect participation at our in-person Book Fairs to remain strong this school year, and fair count is on track to reach approximately 90% of pre-pandemic levels, up from 85% in fiscal 2023.

現在轉向我們的部門業績。在兒童圖書出版和發行方面，第一季收入下降 18% 至 1.028 億美元。部門營運虧損較上年同期增加 1,140 萬美元，達到 4,150 萬美元。第一季的部門業績落後於上年，主要是由於零售圖書市場持續疲軟以及學校閱讀活動業務預期增長之前的計劃支出所致。本季書展營收下降 4% 至 2,730 萬美元。由於學校在夏季基本上不上課，因此收入和利潤沒有任何意義。正如我們在先前的財報電話會議上所指出的，我們預計本學年現場書展的參與度將保持強勁，展會數量有望達到大流行前水平的約 90%，高於 2023 財年的 85%。

Book Clubs revenues of $2.6 million were down versus the prior year period revenues of $6.3 million, again, in a very small quarter for this division. Book Clubs underwent a successful reorganization this quarter as they were combined with Fairs, which resulted in onetime severance recorded in overhead. The team has begun to implement new customer-centric strategies as we reduce this business to more profitable foundation to build upon. Overall, we are confident that the School Reading Events business is well positioned for a successful back-to-school season.

讀書俱樂部的收入為 260 萬美元，較去年同期的 630 萬美元有所下降，對於該部門來說，這個季度的收入再次非常小。讀書會本季成功重組，與博覽會合併，導致一次性遣散費計入管理費用。隨著我們將這項業務縮減為更有利可圖的基礎，該團隊已開始實施新的以客戶為中心的策略。整體而言，我們相信學校閱讀活動業務已做好準備，可以成功舉辦返校季。

Consolidated trade revenues were $72.9 million in the first quarter, trailing prior year period revenues of $90.1 million. While our bestseller's continuing to perform well, trade continues to be impacted by headwinds in the retail book selling market, impacting sales. As Peter discussed, despite the near-term book selling environment, we are excited about the many frontlist titles we are publishing later this year as well as the film and streaming series that are launching. Lower media revenues contributed to the segment revenue decrease as the company completed the delivery of episodes associated with the production of the animated series, Eva the Owlet, in fiscal 2023.

第一季綜合貿易收入為 7,290 萬美元，落後去年同期的 9,010 萬美元。雖然我們的暢銷書繼續表現良好，但貿易繼續受到零售圖書銷售市場逆風的影響，從而影響了銷售。正如彼得所討論的，儘管近期的圖書銷售環境不佳，但我們對今年稍後將出版的許多熱門書籍以及即將推出的電影和串流媒體系列感到興奮。由於該公司在 2023 財年完成了與動畫系列片《貓頭鷹伊娃》製作相關的劇集的交付，媒體收入下降導致該部門收入下降。

Education Solutions segment revenues were down 10% to $66 million in the first quarter, reflecting ongoing trends in the timing and seasonality of customer buying patterns. Operating loss increased $14.4 million to $18.7 million compared to the prior year period, in line with our expectations. This was driven by lower revenues and continued investment in growth opportunities to become a provider of blended learning solutions while remaining focused on protecting our strong literacy offerings, which are a pillar of Scholastic's long-term growth strategy.

第一季教育解決方案部門營收下降 10% 至 6,600 萬美元，反映了客戶購買模式的時間和季節性的持續趨勢。與去年同期相比，營運虧損增加 1,440 萬美元，達到 1,870 萬美元，符合我們的預期。這是由於收入下降以及對成長機會的持續投資，以成為混合學習解決方案的提供商，同時繼續專注於保護我們強大的讀寫產品，這是學樂長期成長策略的支柱。

As Peter described earlier, we completed actions in the first quarter to streamline the Education Solutions organization and adjust the operating model under new leadership as the business executes on our blended learning strategy. This resulted in onetime severance recorded in overhead.

正如彼得之前所描述的，隨著業務執行我們的混合學習策略，我們在第一季完成了精簡教育解決方案組織並在新領導下調整營運模式的行動。這導致一次性遣散費計入間接費用。

International segment revenues of $57.2 million in the first quarter trailed the prior year period revenues of $65 million. A $1.4 million year-over-year impact of unfavorable foreign currency exchange and lower revenues of $1.6 million due to the fiscal 2023 Q1 disposition of the direct sales business in Asia contributed to this decline. Excluding these factors, International revenues were down $4.8 million, reflecting lower revenues in major markets, specifically Canada and Australia, as softness in the retail book selling market continued to impact global trade sales.

第一季國際部門營收為 5,720 萬美元，低於去年同期的 6,500 萬美元。不利的外匯匯率和 2023 財年第一季亞洲直銷業務處置導致收入減少 160 萬美元，導致了 140 萬美元的年比影響。排除這些因素，國際收入下降了 480 萬美元，反映出主要市場（特別是加拿大和澳洲）的收入下降，因為零售圖書銷售市場的疲軟繼續影響全球貿易銷售。

Segment operating loss increased $3.5 million to $7 million, partly reflecting lower revenues and operating pressures in Canada. We expect the reorganization of Book Clubs in Canada, which resulted in onetime severance, to drive greater operating efficiencies in the coming quarters.

部門營運虧損增加 350 萬美元至 700 萬美元，部分反映了加拿大收入下降和營運壓力。我們預計加拿大讀書俱樂部的重組（導致一次性遣散費）將在未來幾季提高營運效率。

Unallocated overhead costs of $25.6 million in the first quarter increased from $20.2 million in the prior period, primarily driven by higher employee-related costs. As discussed last quarter, we have now rented all of our first floor retail space at our owned headquarters building in New York. We're currently marketing floors 2 through 4 for outside tenants.

第一季未分配管理費用為 2,560 萬美元，較上一季的 2,020 萬美元增加，主要是因為員工相關成本增加。正如上季所討論的，我們現在已經租用了我們在紐約擁有的總部大樓的所有一樓零售空間。我們目前正在向外部租戶推銷 2 至 4 層。

As we now disclosed in our filings with the SEC, we recognized rental revenue of $2.5 million in the first quarter. As a reminder, this was previously recorded as a benefit in SG&A in the prior year period. On the approximately 26,600 square feet leased as of today, we expect annualized straight-line rental revenue to total approximately $9.9 million in fiscal 2024.

正如我們現在在向 SEC 提交的文件中披露的那樣，我們在第一季確認了 250 萬美元的租金收入。提醒一下，這之前在上一年期間被記錄為 SG&A 福利。截至目前已租賃的約 26,600 平方英尺，我們預計 2024 財年的年化直線租金收入總計約為 990 萬美元。

Now turning to cash flow and the balance sheet. Net cash used by operating activities was $38.1 million compared to $60.3 million in the prior year. Lower inventory purchases in the first quarter compared to a year ago benefited working capital, reflecting lower manufacturing and freight costs as well as lower purchase volumes compared to a year ago when the company replenished inventory levels post pandemic to meet demand and mitigate shipping delays. With a significant improvement in lead times for product, we're able to manage purchases substantially closer to our demand this quarter, resulting in sufficient inventory on hand and lower spend. We expect our cost of product per unit to decline in fiscal 2024 from the prior year, with this benefit appearing in the P&L in the second half of the fiscal year.

現在轉向現金流和資產負債表。經營活動使用的現金淨額為 3,810 萬美元，而前一年為 6,030 萬美元。與去年同期相比，第一季的庫存採購量減少，有利於營運資金，反映出製造和貨運成本的降低，以及與去年同期相比採購量的減少，當時該公司在大流行後補充了庫存水平，以滿足需求並減少運輸延誤。隨著產品交貨時間的顯著改善，我們能夠在本季度管理更接近需求的採購，從而實現充足的庫存和更低的支出。我們預期 2024 財年的單位產品成本將較上年下降，此收益將反映在本財年下半年的損益表中。

Free cash use in the first quarter was $57.8 million, improving from $76.5 million in the prior year period, reflecting lower working capital requirements partly offset by higher CapEx and prepublication spending on new products, growth initiatives and onetime severance costs. At the end of the quarter, cash and cash equivalents net of total debt was $119.9 million compared to $218.5 million at the end of fiscal 2023.

第一季的自由現金使用量為5,780 萬美元，較去年同期的7,650 萬美元有所改善，反映出營運資本需求的降低，部分被新產品、成長計畫和一次性遣散費的資本支出和出版前支出的增加所抵消。截至本季末，扣除總債務的現金和現金等價物為 1.199 億美元，而 2023 財年末為 2.185 億美元。

In addition to increasing growth investments, we continue to return capital to shareholders in the first quarter through our regular quarterly dividend and open market share repurchases. We repurchased 818,000 shares last quarter for $36.2 million. Together with our regular dividend, we returned over $42 million in the first quarter as Peter mentioned. We remain consistent in our capital allocation priorities. We will pursue opportunities to leverage our balance sheet and deploy capital by: first, investing in growth opportunities; second, maintaining a strong and efficient balance sheet; and third, returning excess cash to shareholders to enhance their returns.

除了增加成長投資外，我們還在第一季繼續透過定期季度股利和公開市場股票回購向股東返還資本。上季我們以 3,620 萬美元回購了 818,000 股股票。正如 Peter 所提到的，加上我們的定期股息，我們第一季的回報超過 4,200 萬美元。我們的資本配置優先事項保持一致。我們將透過以下方式尋求利用資產負債表和配置資本的機會：首先，投資於成長機會；其次，維持強勁、有效率的資產負債表；第三，將多餘的現金回饋給股東，以提高他們的回報。

As we look ahead to the rest of the year, we are affirming our fiscal 2024 guidance, as Peter has said. We continue to expect revenue growth of 3% to 5% and are targeting adjusted EBITDA of $190 million to $200 million. This excludes the impact of onetime charges related to restructuring and cost savings activities of $7 million to $10 million, of which we incurred $6.3 million in the first quarter. Based on our current outlook for fiscal 2024 CapEx and prepublication spend of $115 million to $125 million compared to $88.9 million in fiscal 2023, we now expect full year free cash flow of between $55 million and $65 million.

正如彼得所說，在展望今年剩餘時間時，我們確認了 2024 財年的指導方針。我們繼續預期營收成長 3% 至 5%，調整後 EBITDA 目標為 1.9 億美元至 2 億美元。這不包括與重組和成本節約活動相關的 700 萬至 1000 萬美元一次性費用的影響，其中我們在第一季產生了 630 萬美元。根據我們目前對2024 財年資本支出和出版前支出的預期為1.15 億至1.25 億美元，而2023 財年為8890 萬美元，我們現在預計全年自由現金流在5500 萬美元至6500 萬美元之間。

Thank you for your time today. I will now hand the call back to Peter for his final remarks.

感謝您今天抽出時間。我現在將把電話轉回給彼得，讓他做最後的演講。

Thank you, Ken. This past quarter, our team made good progress and built a solid foundation for the remainder of fiscal 2024. After first quarter results that were in line with expectations overall, we are affirming our guidance and looking ahead. We're positive about fiscal 2024 and our multiple long-term opportunities to grow our business and impact, addressing kids' pressing need for reading, learning and stories. Thank you very much.

謝謝你，肯。上個季度，我們的團隊取得了良好進展，為 2024 財年剩餘時間奠定了堅實的基礎。在第一季度業績總體符合預期之後，我們確認了我們的指導並展望了未來。我們對 2024 財年以及擴大業務和影響力、滿足孩子們對閱讀、學習和故事的迫切需求的多個長期機會持樂觀態度。非常感謝。

Let me now turn the call over to Jeff.

現在讓我把電話轉給傑夫。

Thank you, Peter. We appreciate everyone's time today and continuing support. With that, we will open the call for questions.

謝謝你，彼得。我們感謝大家今天抽出時間並繼續提供支持。至此，我們將開始提問。

(Operator Instructions) And our first question comes from the line of Brendan McCarthy from Sidoti.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題來自 Sidoti 的 Brendan McCarthy。

I think I wanted to start off at the trade channel sales and just the general -- the retail market in general. I'm just wondering if you can kind of talk about what you're seeing in the industry versus your back and frontlist sellers. It looks like, obviously, you mentioned it's kind of reverting to the pre-pandemic normal -- more normalized levels. But I was also wondering if you could provide some insight into when you might think the timing of that might play out.

我想我想從貿易通路銷售和一般零售市場開始。我只是想知道您是否可以談談您在行業中看到的情況以及您的後台和前台賣家的情況。顯然，你提到這似乎正在恢復到大流行前的正常水平——更正常化的水平。但我也想知道您是否可以提供一些您認為何時可能實現的見解。

Yes, it's Peter here. I mean what we -- there are 2 things going on at the moment. The first of which is that we're seeing that -- hang on. Yes. Sorry, Peter here. The first thing that we're seeing is that sales are soft going out of the door. And the second thing we're seeing is that the larger inventory purchases, which many booksellers have made during the pandemic mean that restocking has not been happening at the same level as before.

是的，彼得在這裡。我的意思是我們——目前正在發生兩件事。第一個是我們看到的──撐住。是的。對不起，彼得在這裡。我們看到的第一件事是銷售疲軟。我們看到的第二件事是，許多書商在疫情期間進行了更大的庫存購買，這意味著補貨的水平並未達到以前的水平。

This has been coming for the last few months and parts of this year. But we see this, I think, as reverting to more normal sort of activities in the trade channel once the full impact of the pandemic is through. And indeed, we're beginning to see some stronger elements of that post the quarter. Certainly the last weeks of August, which is our third month and now in September are encouraging.

這種情況在今年的最後幾個月和部分時間一直在發生。但我認為，我們認為，一旦疫情的全面影響結束，貿易管道就會恢復到更正常的活動。事實上，我們開始在本季看到一些更強勁的元素。當然，八月的最後幾週，也就是我們的第三個月，以及現在的九月，都是令人鼓舞的。

I think also with the trade, one's position in the trade market is that a lot depends too on the new publishing that you're doing. And whilst our trade channel was soft during the first quarter, we've got much more in terms of our publishing coming in quarter 2. So we would expect quarter 2 to be a really quite strong trade month, and we don't really have any major concerns about our overall trade forecast for the year as a whole.

我認為對於貿易來說，一個人在貿易市場上的地位也很大程度取決於你正在做的新出版。雖然我們的貿易管道在第一季表現疲軟，但我們在第二季的出版方面取得了更多成果。因此，我們預計第二季將是一個非常強勁的貿易月份，但我們並沒有真正做到這一點。對我們全年整體貿易預測的任何重大擔憂。

The other piece to bear in mind is that we can see a more complete picture really of book buying because of our school book fairs in particular. And school book fair buying has been very strong. It was strong through the spring season this year. And in terms of fairs booked for the fall season, that all looks very, very promising and strong as well. So I think one's got to look at this in terms of the totality of the market. We're in a particularly good position to see the totality of the market because of the volume of books, which are actually sold through the Book Fairs and Book Clubs, which are not captured by BookScan.

另一件要記住的事情是，特別是因為我們的學校書展，我們可以看到更完整的書籍購買。學校圖書展的購買量也非常強勁。今年整個春季都表現強勁。就秋季預訂的展會而言，這一切看起來都非常非常有希望，而且也很強勁。所以我認為人們必須從市場的整體角度來看待這個問題。我們處於一個特別有利的位置，可以看到市場的整體情況，因為書籍的數量實際上是透過書展和讀書俱樂部出售的，而 BookScan 並沒有捕獲這些書籍。

I was also wondering as a follow-up, do you think it's fair that -- or I guess, do you think it's fair to say, is inflation still having an impact on consumer purchasing patterns as it pertains to trade channel sales?

作為後續行動，我還想知道，您認為公平嗎？或者我猜，您認為公平地說，通貨膨脹是否仍然對消費者購買模式產生影響，因為它與貿易通路銷售有關？

Well, we haven't particularly seen that. I think probably not is the answer. Again, we can look at things like revenue per fair as an indication of, as you know, kids and parents purchasing. And we saw throughout our last fiscal year and particularly in the spring this year that actually the revenues per fair have been strong and stronger than pre pandemic. So I think it's not that particularly.

嗯，我們還沒有特別看到這一點。我想答案可能不是。同樣，我們可以將每次展會的收入等因素視為孩子和家長購買的指標。我們在上一財年，尤其是今年春季看到，實際上每場展會的收入都非常強勁，而且比大流行前還要強勁。所以我認為這並不是特別的。

I think one's also got think of this in terms of the, as I said earlier, the totality of what goes on in trade and how parents and children actually buy kids' books. And so I think that we feel reasonably -- I have to say, we feel comfortable about how trade publishing and trade forecasting because, in many ways, 1 year is never exactly the same as the prior year because of timing of new titles. And so we're -- that's not a cause of concern for us at all.

正如我之前所說，我認為人們也應該從貿易的整體情況以及父母和孩子如何實際購買兒童讀物的角度來思考這一點。因此，我認為我們的感覺是合理的- 我不得不說，我們對貿易出版和貿易預測的方式感到滿意，因為在很多方面，由於新標題的發佈時間，一年永遠不會與前一年完全相同。所以我們——這根本不是我們擔心的原因。

Got it. That's helpful. One question on the Education Solutions segment. I know you mentioned there was some impact from the timing of state-sponsored programs. I was just wondering if you could go into detail about that specific timing.

知道了。這很有幫助。關於教育解決方案部分的一個問題。我知道您提到國家資助計畫的時間表會產生一些影響。我只是想知道您是否可以詳細說明具體時間。

Brendan, this is Ken Cleary. So yes. So there was -- we have a very large contract with NWRI in the state of Florida, and part of that called for some billings that we don't have this year. So we continue to grow our student base there, and we continue to reach out to more students because there's an awful lot of more students in Florida that are eligible for this program, and we're investing in marketing to reach these students.

布倫丹，這是肯·克利裡。所以是的。我們與佛羅裡達州的 NWRI 簽訂了一份非常大的合同，其中一部分需要一些我們今年沒有的賬單。因此，我們繼續擴大那裡的學生基礎，並繼續接觸更多的學生，因為佛羅裡達州有更多的學生有資格參加這個項目，我們正在投資行銷來接觸這些學生。

And therefore, the timing and really the beginning of the year cycle starts, I believe, in July and continues through to next July. So we're, this quarter, really caught the beginning of the year cycle for that. But the idea is that we're looking to increase participation in that program. And to that end, we have incremental opportunities in terms of it's now open to kindergartners and Pre-K as well. So we're very encouraged by our sponsored programs, particularly in Florida, and that's what you're seeing impacting in the quarter but also elsewhere, as we continue to try and replicate this model in similar models in other states and through other either state sponsors or other sponsors in general.

因此，我相信，時間和真正的年初週期是從七月開始，一直持續到明年七月。因此，本季我們確實抓住了年初的周期。但我們的想法是，我們希望增加對該計劃的參與。為此，我們有更多的機會，現在也向幼兒園和學前班開放。因此，我們對我們的贊助計劃感到非常鼓舞，特別是在佛羅裡達州，這就是您所看到的在本季度以及其他地方產生的影響，因為我們繼續嘗試在其他州以及通過其他任一州的類似模型中複製此模型贊助商或其他一般贊助商。

Got it. One more quick question for me. I just noticed your over cost -- or I'm sorry, overhead costs were up year-over-year, and that was driven by employee-related costs. Is that just compensation or...

知道了。還有一個問題想問我。我剛剛注意到你們的成本過高——或者我很抱歉，管理費用逐年上升，這是由員工相關成本驅動的。這只是補償還是...

Yes, some of it's higher headcount, but a good bulk of it is higher utilization of medical expenses as well. And again, because our medical expenses don't particularly time out with our fiscal year, our medical year is a calendar year and our fiscal year is a full year, we're still working to look at those accruals and understand exactly where they are. So right now, this is what we have in there, but we're definitely seeing higher utilization post pandemic of medical costs, but more to come as the year progresses. We'll certainly have it ironed out by the time we get to the end of the year.

是的，其中一些是員工人數增加，但很大一部分是醫療費用的使用率更高。再說一次，因為我們的醫療費用並沒有特別超出我們的財政年度，我們的醫療年度是一個日曆年，我們的財政年度是一個完整的年度，所以我們仍在努力查看這些應計費用並準確了解它們的位置。所以現在，這就是我們所擁有的，但我們肯定會看到大流行後醫療費用的使用率更高，但隨著時間的推移，將會有更多的利用率。到今年年底，我們肯定會解決這個問題。

This does conclude the question-and-answer session of today's program. I'd like to hand the program back to management for any further remarks.

今天節目的問答環節到此結束。我想將該程序交還給管理層以徵求進一步的意見。

Thank you, everyone, for joining today's call and for your continued support. I'd like to thank again all of Scholastic's employees for their hard work and preparation ahead of the back-to-school season. We're positive about our plan for fiscal 2024 and about the long-term opportunities for Scholastic as we continue to execute on our strategy this year and beyond.

感謝大家參加今天的電話會議並給予我們持續的支持。我要再次感謝所有 Scholastic 員工在返校季節之前的辛勤工作和準備工作。我們對 2024 財年的計劃以及學樂的長期機會持積極態度，因為我們將繼續執行今年及以後的策略。

Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for your participation in today's conference. This does conclude the program. You may now disconnect. Good day.

女士們、先生們，感謝你們參加今天的會議。這確實結束了該程式。您現在可以斷開連線。再會。