Pearson slumps into the red
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.PEARSON, THE media group, slid into the red for the first-half with a pre-tax loss of pounds 38m as the acquisition last autumn of Simon & Schuster's educational publishing business ramped up costs.
Pearson Education, which also includes Addison Wesley Longman, accounted for pounds 554m out of total sales of pounds 1.3bn. That represented a one-third rise on the year ago period. Prior to interest costs on debt of pounds 2.5bn and goodwill amortisation, operating profit rose 14 per cent to pounds 126m.
The media group's three other divisions all chalked up healthy earnings gains. The FT Group, including the Financial Times, a 50 per cent interest in the Economist and several continental business dailies, saw operating profit grow 14 per cent to pounds 79m, though sales fell marginally to pounds 330m due to changes in the business portfolio and adverse exchange rate movements. Average daily sales at the flagship Financial Times rose 9 per cent from a year ago and North American sales are on track to hit 100,000 per day by the year end.
Penguin, the publisher, boosted sales 13 per cent to pounds 263m as operating profit nearly doubled to pounds 31m. Pearson TV faced tough competition as sales rose only 4 per cent to pounds 159m, but lower losses at Channel 5 helped operating profit jump one-fifth to pounds 33m. Pearson also said it plans to spend about pounds 120m on on-line related investment this year, up from pounds 80m in 1998.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments