26th Apr 2019 08:21
LONDON (Alliance News) - Education media firm Pearson PLC said Friday its first-quarter revenue was 2% higher on a year prior after a "strong" start to the year, with the FTSE 100-listed firm also expecting annual profit to widen.
For the three months ended March, total revenue was 2% higher. This was helped by 2% growth in its key North American market and by a 4% increase in the Core segment and flat performance in its Growth unit.
Net debt was reduced to GBP500 million from GBP600 million the year prior.
The sale of its US K12 Courseware business was completed towards the end of the quarter. In February, Pearson announced it was selling its US K12 business - which provides textbooks and other resources to students in the US from kindergarten through to 12th grade - for USD250 million to Nexus Capital Management LP in what it called a "major milestone" for its simplification programme.
"We are off to a strong start to the year, having laid good foundations in 2018," Pearson Chief Executive Officer John Fallon said. "We continue to make progress against our strategic priorities, and we are bringing exciting new products and capabilities to market in 2019 which will continue to accelerate our move to digital. We expect our sales to stabilise this year and to increase our underlying profit further."
For 2019, Pearson continues to expect underlying operating profit of between GBP590 million to GBP640 million. In 2018, Pearson reported underlying operating profit of GBP546 million.
Shares in Pearson were 0.7% lower at 859.00 pence on Friday.
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