In the six months ending June 30, 2003, Pearson had sales of £1.67bn, down by 8% from the £1.8bn for the same period last year. However, the company said it remained on track to meet full-year targets, with most of its sales and all of its profits being made in the second half of the year.
Overall sales at the FT Group, which includes the Financial Times, the French business newspaper Les Echos and the Spanish media company Recoletos, were down by 5%. Pearson blamed what it described as "the deep recession in corporate and financial advertising".
Sales of the Financial Times fell by 5% for the six months to 461,000. However, the paper's website, FT.com, saw a rise in paid subscribers to 57,000, compared with 16,000 a year ago.
Though there have been questions over the future of FT Deutschland, which Pearson publishes as a joint venture with Gruner & Jahr, the title saw an 11% rise in circulation to 91,000, as well as increased advertising revenues. In this morning's statement, Pearson said it was considering further expansion of the newspaper.
Overall, profits at the FT Group rose by 17% on the back of reduced internet losses and growth at the Interactive Data Corporation, the asset-pricing business in which Pearson has a 60% stake.
Marjorie Scardino, Pearson's chief executive, said: "We are confident about the full year because we are making the most of our strong market positions and operating on much lower costs.
"Our book publishing operations are proving resilient and performing well ahead of their competitors. Our business newspapers, with lower costs and improved content, will bounce back strongly when business advertising recovers."
Shares in the company rose by 19p to 588p, an increase of 3.3% on Friday's closing price.
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