said that as a result of the seasonal phasing of its educational business, the first quarter is a relatively light trading period for Pearson, but it still managed to generate £1bn of revenues against £800m in 2008, an increase of 26% in headline terms and 1% at constant currencies.
Looking ahead in 2009 it said it expected continued growth in its content and subscription-based revenues at the FT Group.
In line with the rest of the market, Pearson reported a further weakening in advertising in the first quarter.
It said that visibility is poor and advertising accounted for only 16% of FT Group revenues in the first quarter and 3% of total Pearson revenues.
Marjorie Scardino, chief executive of Pearson, said: "The economic environment makes us cautious about this year, but we're encouraged by the start we've made.
"It indicates that Pearson can continue to perform well, even as some of our businesses face tough market conditions.
"Our focus is on trading well again this year, while still investing in our long-term growth opportunities in digital businesses and emerging markets."
Trading is in line with the expectations set out in its full-year results published on March 2. For 2009 as a whole it expects tough market conditions for US School publishing, financial advertising and the consumer books industry.
It is still hoping to achieve full-year adjusted earnings at or above the 2008 level of 57.7p per share, based on current exchange rates and market conditions.
At its Penguin book publishing division Pearson said it was continuing to see challenging trading conditions for book publishers and booksellers.
However, it said that demand for new fiction and non-fiction is generally good and growth in digital formats is very strong.
Pearson, in a statement, said: "We expect Penguin to produce a good competitive performance once again, with a strong publishing schedule in the second half of the year that includes new books from Jamie Oliver, Eoin Colfer, Nick Hornby, David Plouffe, Nora Roberts, Clive Cussler & Justin Scott, Steven Levitt & Stephen Dubner and Greg Mortenson."
At its AGM today, it is proposing a final dividend of 22p per share giving a total dividend for 2008 of 33.8p, up 7% from the previous year.
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