Slow Reading

Borders Group Inc. (Ann Arbor, Mich.) has reported an $18.4 million loss for its second quarter ended July 23, 2006. And the international bookstore chain provided a weaker-than-expected outlook for the rest of the year.

The company attributed the decline to a weak lineup of best-selling books and to a tough comparison with the quarter last year, when sales were bolstered by the release of the sixth “Harry Potter” book in the popular series.

Revenues in the period were down 3.9 percent. Consolidated sales were down 4 percent. from $901.1 million last year, down 3 percent domestically. Same-store sales fell 5.3 percent.

In the second quarter, the company opened two new Borders superstores in the U.S., ending the period with a total of 476 total domestic locations.

“Our investments will peak in the third quarter as we continue to remodel stores, improve infrastructure and build our loyalty program, while at the same time we ramp-up inventory and make other investments to prepare for the holiday selling season,” said ceo George Jones. “Once these investments are behind us by the end of the third quarter, we expect to begin to benefit from them — as well as from improved sales trends in the fourth quarter — to end the year with positive momentum going into 2007.”