Barnes & Noble Education Reports Third Quarter Fiscal Year 2021 Financial Results

Barnes & Noble Education, Inc. (NYSE: BNED), a leading solutions provider for the education industry, today reported sales and earnings for the third quarter of fiscal year 2021, which ended on January 30, 2021.

BNED’s fiscal 2021 third quarter results were significantly impacted by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, as many schools continued to adjust their learning model and restrict on-campus activities in response to the pandemic. As compared to a year ago, substantially fewer students learned on campus, as many schools implemented virtual/remote learning models and curtailed on-campus classes and activities due to health and safety concerns. While many athletic-conferences resumed sporting activities, fan attendance at games was severely restricted or even eliminated, which further impacted sales from Retail’s high-margin general merchandise offerings. Additionally, year-over-year sales were impacted by COVID-19 related enrollment declines in higher education.

The COVID-19 impact on higher education remains a fluid situation and BNED remains committed to supporting its campus partners through its flexible offerings and ability to quickly pivot to ensure uninterrupted service as institutions manage the safety of their campuses and the Company manages the safety of its campus stores.

Financial highlights for the third quarter 2021:

• Consolidated third quarter sales of $411.6 million decreased 18.1%, as compared to the prior year period; year to date consolidated sales of $1,211.1 million decreased 24.0%, as compared to the prior year period.
• Consolidated third quarter GAAP net loss of $(48.3) million, compared to GAAP net loss of $(1.7) million in the prior year period; year to date GAAP net loss of $(87.4) million, compared to GAAP net income of $2.1 million in the prior year period. The third quarter net loss includes a pre-tax non-cash impairment loss of $27.6 million, $20.5 million after-tax, on certain store-level long-lived assets in the Retail segment.
• Consolidated third quarter non-GAAP Adjusted Earnings of $(25.6) million, compared to $(0.7) million in the prior year period; year to date non-GAAP Adjusted Earnings of $(56.2) million, compared to $7.0 million in the prior year period.
• Consolidated third quarter non-GAAP Adjusted EBITDA of $(20.8) million, compared to $13.4 million in the prior year period; year to date non-GAAP Adjusted EBITDA of $(34.3) million, compared to $62.8 million in the prior year period.

Operational highlights for the third quarter 2021:

• Entered into a long-term strategic omnichannel merchandising partnership with FLC, forging an alliance with the two online and offline leaders in the licensed sports and emblematic merchandise category. Under the terms of the agreement, Fanatics and Lids together made a $15 million strategic equity investment in BNED.
• BNC First Day® year-over-year revenue increased 107%, benefitting from the accelerated move to digital courseware.
• Reached agreements with 31 campus stores to date, which includes new business accounts, to support the BNC First Day® Complete program in Fall Term 2021, representing over 160,000 in total undergraduate enrollment; up from 12 campus stores and 43,000 in total undergraduate enrollment in Fall Term 2020.
• Continue to work with a significant number of additional campuses to secure agreements to launch First Day Complete for Fall Term 2021.
• Gained over 210,000 gross subscribers for the bartleby® suite of services year to date, with DSS revenue increasing 11.8% for the same period.
• Announced agreement with Wolfram|Alpha to develop a math solver as a new feature in the Company’s bartleby suite of solutions. Powered by Wolfram|Alpha’s best-in-class computation engine, the math solver will allow students to