Independent publisher Quercus is for sale

Publishers Lunch

After the disclosure last week of a large and unexpected holiday loss and "discussions" with its bank about the company's revolving credit line, Quercus has announced it will "seek potential offerors by means of a formal sale process," which the board decided "would be in the best interests of the company’s shareholders." Livingstone Partners is running the sale, and the publisher has received permission under the UK's takeover rules to allow bidders to keep their identity confidential.

The company "continues to have constructive dialogue with its bankers, Barclays" and notes the "sale process is at an early stage and...there can be no certainty that any transaction will be concluded." Chief executive Mark Smith, who owns 14 percent of the publisher's shares, says "It feels like we'd be better off within a bigger organization. The publishing industry seems to be polarizing around very big and very small companies. It's difficult for companies of our size."

Earlier in the month Atlantic Books, another independent UK publisher, essentially completed a less disruptive sale, in which minority shareholder Allen and Unwin acquired a majority share in the company and a refinancing provided "substantial new funding" after poor operating results.

Also in the UK, retailer WH Smith was oddly celebratory after reporting that holiday sales in their High Street stores fell 6 percent on a same-store basis (and 7 percent overall), since they had "good gross margin improvement."

While over at PW:

Quercus on the Block 

Less than a week after announcing disappointing holiday sales and expectations of a significant loss, U.K.-based Quercus has put itself up for sale. The independent house, best known as the U.K. publisher of Stieg Larsson, has hired Livingstone Partners as its adviser to handle the sale. In a statement, Quercus management said the sale process is "at an early stage" and there is no guarantee a deal will be concluded. 
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The Guardian reports:
Stieg Larsson publisher Quercus driven to seek buyer

And at The Bookseller