Pearson said that advertising revenues at the Financial Times newspaper are down 18% in the year to date and the outlook remains uncertain.
The FT Group, which includes the paper and its FT.com website, accounts for 17% of Pearson's revenues.
Pearson warned that if advertising continues at the levels seen in the year to date "FT Group profits would be lower than current market expectations but still ahead of last year".
The financial advertising market has been hard hit by the downturn and was further bounced by the war in Iraq.
This week, the Financial Times unveiled a £3m campaign to support the paper's redesign, introducing the endline "New FT, new comment".
The campaign, created by Delaney Lund Knox Warren, is the FT's first UK branding campaign for two years and will include TV, radio, outdoor, press and direct mail.
The FT is seeking to broaden its UK readership, which has continued to fall in the last 12 months. It is hoping to attract readers from The Times and The Daily Telegraph.
Elsewhere within the media group, it reported that profits at its education unit are expected to benefit from growth in its school and college publishing businesses and reduced losses from its internet and corporate training operations.
Pearson's school business accounts for 27% of its total revenues in 2002. The company said it was performing well in the major US state adoptions and was expected to grow ahead of the market this year.
At the Penguin Group, which accounts for 19% of group revenues, profits are expected to rise on the back of continued progress at Dorling Kindersley and a strong publishing schedule.
Pearson issued the trading statement ahead of its interim results on July 28.
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