Scholium Group, parent of rare book seller Shapero Rare Books, reported their financial results recently for the year ending March 31, 2019. They were essentially flat, sales up some, but the bottom line swung to a tiny loss from a miniscule gain the year before. The stock market yawned. Scholium's stock has been trading in a small range, the £40s, for over a year.

 

Scholium contains three divisions, with the largest being its bookseller, Shapero Rare Books. Earlier, Scholium indicated this was experiencing a difficult environment. It's trading business, where it partners with others in selling artworks, and its recently established stamp auction business, were seeing more growth.

 

Sales for the firm were up in total by 8%. Total revenue for the year was £7,137,000. However, starting up the stamp business also increased expenses. The result was a swing from a profit the previous year to a loss in 2019, but those profits and losses amounted to little more than rounding errors. For the year ending March 31, 2018, Scholium eked out a profit of £1,000; for 2019, they had a loss of £13,000. Management noted that the Group was profitable in the second half of their financial year and they are optimistic for the future, though that seems more focused on the trading and philatelic divisions than on rare books.

 

Chairman of the Board Jasper Allen commented, "We are pleased to have increased revenues in a difficult retail environment. While the small loss for the year was disappointing, the continued progress in developing our three revenue streams has been encouraging. The Group continues to look for acquisitions and is focused on opportunities to improve shareholder value."