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Indigo Books posts lower earningsThe Globe and Mail

Indigo Books & Music Inc. increased its revenue to almost $353-million in its third quarter, but reported a lower net profit of just over $14-million, the company said Wednesday.

Indigo said it had net and comprehensive third-quarter earnings attributable to shareholders of $14.3-million, against $20.8-million in the same quarter a year earlier.

Revenue for the quarter was $352.9-million, up $1.7-million from the same year-ago quarter and was driven by growth in the gift, lifestyle, toy and e-reader businesses, Indigo said.

Earnings per share were 56 cents diluted compared with 82 cents in the same quarter a year earlier.

On a comparable store basis, Indigo and Chapters superstores posted a 1.8 per cent increase in revenue, and Coles and IndigoSpirit small format store sales were up by 2.5 per cent. Sales from Indigo's online channel, chapters.indigo.ca, were up 9.3 per cent compared with last year.

"We were very pleased with our holiday results," chief executive officer Heather Reisman said in a news release. "We recorded the highest sales day in the history of our company during December and experienced double-digit growth in our gift, lifestyle and toy businesses."

Net profit from continuing operations for the quarter was $23.7-million compared with a net profit from continuing operations of $27-million last year. The company said that was a result of increased promotional discounts to drive print sales and increased sales of low margin e-readers.

Indigo said the sale of Toronto-based e-reader maker Kobo Inc. to Japan's Rakuten Inc. for $315-million (U.S.) recently closed. The acquisition by the Tokyo-based e-commerce company provides it with an opportunity to expand its footprint into new and expanding markets.

The company also said that Ted Marlow has stepped down from his role as president and is returning to the United States.

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