Pearson sees weak demand knock profits

PUBLISHER Pearson said it expected 2013 adjusted operating profit to be lower than last year due to weaker demand for college textbooks in its North American Education division, sending its shares sliding.

The group did, however, reiterate its full-year earnings guidance after reporting nine-month underlying sales up 2 per cent due to strong demand in its professional and emerging markets divisions.

Analysts described yesterday’s trading update as mixed but said they did not expect to change their forecasts for the education and media group, which owns the Financial Times.

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“Market conditions remain strong in digital, services and emerging markets, but are more challenging in some of our largest textbook publishing markets,” said chief executive John Fallon.

“This reinforces the importance of our strategy of accelerated change, so that we can shift more capital and talent more quickly towards these significant growth opportunities.”