29th Apr 2016 06:21
LONDON (Alliance News) - Education materials company Pearson PLC on Friday reiterated its guidance for 2016, as it said it continued to trade in line with expectations in the first quarter of the year, seeing underlying sales decline by 4%.
In a statement ahead of its annual general meeting, Pearson said it continues to expect an adjusted operating profit and adjusted earnings per share before restructuring costs of between GBP580 million and GBP620 million and between 50 pence and 55 pence, respectively, for the full year.
The company said its sales were down 4% in the first quarter in underlying terms, hit by weakness in assessment revenues in the US and UK. Revenue was down 9% at constant currency, it said, hit by a change in the revenue model at its Connections Education business.
Pearson said it has made good progress on its restructuring and simplification programmes it announced earlier this year, with almost half of its targeted 4,000 reduction in headcount now "notified of exit".
It still expects restructuring costs of around GBP320 million in 2016 in order to make annualised savings of around GBP250 million in 2016 and a further GBP100 million of savings in 2017.
"Pearson has had a solid start to the year, in line with our expectations. We are making good progress on our simplification plan and in our work to have a bigger impact on student learning, which will in turn support our future growth," said Chief Executive John Fallon in a statement.
By Hana Stewart-Smith; [email protected]; @HanaSSAllNews
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