In a trading statement, Pearson reported steady growth across all its businesses for 2007 and is on course to meet shareholder expectations. It said it expected "good underlying earnings growth" for the year, with a 4%-6% underlying sales growth for School, its education publishing division, and Higher Education to increase by a similar margin of 3%-5%.
The Financial Times Group is predicting double-digit growth for the year as it rolls out further cost measures, integration actions and revenue diversifications across the FT Publishing business.
The FT has undergone steady growth over the last six months and has fared best out of all the national daily newspapers, reporting a 1.56% increase in its six-month average circulation to 443,561 in the latest ABC results.
The title, which this week unveiled a subtle redesign, was up 3.54% to 461,033 in the March ABC monthly figures.
Ad revenue at the FT rose by 9% last year, helping FT Publishing become the fastest-growing division at Pearson in terms of operating profit.
Marjorie Scardino, chief executive of Pearson, said: "We've achieved strong growth with a consistent strategy; leading content, services and technology to make it more valuable; international expansion; and ongoing efficiency measures.
"Those advantages, and our solid start to the year, make us confident that 2007 will be another good year."
Pearson said that Interactive Data Corporation, its financial data and analytics company, is expected to return a 6%-9% revenue growth, with net income growth anticipated to post a high single to low double digit increase for the year.
Penguin Publishing is anticipated to return a strong performance for the year, according to Pearson, off the back of an investment and efficiency programme and sales from its bestselling authors, Jamie Oliver, Jeremy Clarkson and Marian Keyes.
_1.jpg)
.jpg)
