Scholastic to build on '05 gains.(Results)(Brief Article)

Scholastic's focus in fiscal 2006 will remain on expanding margins while growing revenue, company chairman Dick Robinson told analysts in a conference call discussing the publisher's results for the year ended May 31. The company's operating margin in fiscal '05 was 6.5% as operating income rose 11%, to $134.9 million, despite a 7% decline, to $2.08 billion, in revenue.

To improve results in children's book publishing and distribution, which had a 15% decline in sales last year to $1.15 billion, Robinson said the company is viewing the segment "as a whole" rather than as individual units. The company is investing more in technology, both in the development of new …