Date: Fri, 19 Dec 1997 03:42:50 GMT Server: Apache/1.2.1 Last-Modified: Fri, 05 Dec 1997 22:25:44 GMT ETag: "1e7070-1587-34887f68" Content-Length: 5511 Accept-Ranges: bytes Connection: close Content-Type: text/html PAGES, INC. (NASDAQ: PAGZ)
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Company Profile


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COMPANY PROFILE

The Company began marketing book fairs as a unique fund raiser for schools because they were the first and remain the only school-based fund-raisers to offer a product or service that meshes with educational objectives. The concept of linking reading with fundraising made book fairs an activity educators and parents readily embraced. The primary focus group is Kindergarten through Grade 6.

PAGES book fairs are conducted at a central location on school premises and are sponsored as a fund raising event by the PTA and the school librarian. The sponsor conducts the book fair, retains 30-35% of the sales receipts and remits the balance to the Company.

The school book fairs average $2,000.00 in gross revenues and $1,250.00 in net revenues to the Company. The Company reports net revenues as sales. There are 400-1200 titles per event based on size and type, the average price point is $4.00 per book.

The Company has 77 distributors in all major market areas of the U.S., Executive offices in St. Petersburg, FL and one main distribution center in Columbus, Ohio.

PAGES' distributors inventory the product in their own warehouses. These distributors take the cases of books to the school, set up the fairs and pick up the cases five days later, as well as re-book fairs for the spring or the following fall.

PAGES buys books at about 82% off the list price. The typical book purchased from either Harper Collins, Bantam Doubleday, Random House, Simon & Shuster or any of the major publishers would sell for $4.00 at the book fair. The Company pays $.72 for that book versus $2.00 paid by most retailers such as Barnes & Noble. Approximately 70% of the titles offered at book fairs are either purchased from, or reprinted with the permission of other publishers.

The remaining 30%, representing more than 110 fiction and non-fiction books and related products in a standard fair, are proprietary titles published by the Company's Publishing Group division.

  • Willowisp Press® - general fiction for children of all ages;
  • Worthington Press® - general non-fiction books;
  • Riverbank Press® - oral story tradition in printed form; and
  • Hamburger Press® - non-book products including calendars and activity kits.

    The Company's 800 proprietary titles consistently rank at the top of the best-seller's list at book fairs. In 1996, 50% of the top-selling 50 books through the Company's book fair distribution channel were proprietary titles. All of the Company's own products are outsourced to independent printers, which are selected on the basis of cost and quality. This outsourcing arrangement also enables PAGES to print on an as-needed basis, as it is not bound by contractual agreements or dependent on any one printer. 

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    Kids Reading

    Overall Size of the School Book Fair Market

  • 64,000 Elementary Schools
  • 12,500 Junior High & Middle Schools
  • 12,700 K-8 or K-12 Schools
  • 89,200 Total Schools

    Boy Reading

    "Some analysts expect education stocks to explode in the next 10 years the way that health care stocks ballooned from virtually nothing 20 years ago to a $1.3 trillion market-cap industry." - Wall Street Journal,  September 8, 1997


  • Left Arrow | Intro | Overview | Bookfair Markets | Profile | Strategy | Management | Data | News | Pages Inc. | Email Us | Left Arrow