14th Oct 2020 08:44
(Alliance News) - Pearson PLC on Wednesday said it has seen a decline in sales every quarter this year, with the second quarter taking the biggest knock but the third quarter seeing improvement.
Global online learning remains on the rise, it added.
The publishing and education company based in Cambridge said that for the first nine months of the year group sales declined by 14%, reflecting the impact of Covid-19.
The second quarter was hit hardest, with sales shrinking by 28%. The third quarter saw sales shrink by 10%, showing an improving trend.
The company said it is seeing a strong performance in Global Online Learning, which grew 14% due to a 41% growth in enrolment for virtual schools.
Global Assessment sales fell by 19%, due to the impact of test centre closures, but this was in line with expectations.
North American Courseware sales declined 14% with higher priced package and print sales taking a knock. This was also in line with the company's expectations however.
International declined 24% due to the impact of Covid-19 and its affects on public and private spending on courseware and assessments.
Pearson said it retains a strong balance sheet and significant financial headroom with immediately available liquidity of around GBP1.6 billion, the company said.
Pearson said it is on track to deliver an outturn broadly in line with market expectations but acknowledged that uncertainties remained, particularly internationally.
Chief Executive John Fallon said: "Our digital performance is very strong, as we support customers and learners around the world as they shift to fully online and hybrid learning. This has been a challenging transformation for all of us but we are starting to see the benefit of all our work to ensure Pearson becomes the winner in digital learning."
Pearson shares were up 0.7% at 574.00 pence each in London on Wednesday morning.
By Greg Roxburgh; [email protected]
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