Losses at the FT are expected to be cut by £20 million over the whole year as Pearson reported advertising revenue growth of 3 per cent for the first half of 2004. Last year, the FT lost £32 million as ad revenues declined.
Pearson said it had seen growth in the recruitment, luxury goods and business travel sectors and said that it was not considering a sale of the FT.
The FT Group of titles contributed £55 million to Pearson's operating profits but Pearson's total operating profit was £39 million thanks to weak sales of its US school publications.
Taking acquisitions into account, Pearson made an operating loss of £77 million compared with £110 million for the first half of 2003.
Pearson said: "Although advertising trends at our business newspapers remain erratic from month to month between categories, advertising revenue growth has turned positive for the first half as a whole and forward bookings continue to run a little ahead of last year."
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