However, the gloom at the FT Group, which includes the Financial Times, FT.com and the French newspaper Les Echos, was offset by a strong performance in Pearson's other divisions. Overall pre-tax profit for the six months ending June 30 2002 was £26m, compared with a loss of £28m for the same period last year.
Shares in Pearson leapt 5.43% when the market opened this morning, trading up by 30.5p at 600.5p.
Reporting its interim results, Pearson said this morning that if demand for advertising continues at the levels seen in the first half of the year, the FT Group is expected to record a drop in operating profits of between 10% and 15% for the full year.
At the Financial Times, advertising revenues fell by 31% compared with the same period last year. Pearson said that the FT's cost base had been reduced by 12%. The sales push for the FT in the US appears to be paying off, with a 14% rise in sales, compared with a 7% decline in the UK.
Les Echos saw advertising revenue fall by 32%, with circulation steady at 153,000 copies daily. Pearson said that cost cutting at the paper would begin to show benefits in the second half of the year.
Marjorie Scardino, chief executive of Pearson, said: "We've improved our earnings and cash performance despite the worst downturn in corporate advertising for 30 years. The strength of our education and consumer publishing businesses should help us to sustain this momentum both through the second half, when we make most of our profits, and in 2003."
Pearson's other interests include Pearson Education, which publishes textbooks, and Penguin, the famous publishing house.
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