UK publishing group, Pearson, has reported a 23% increase in full year profits for 2005, living up to industry expectations. The healthy growth was fuelled by a strong educational market and a good performance in advertising revenues at the Financial Times.
Pre-tax profits for the year to December 31 rose to £422 million from £350 million, with revenue from continuing operations reaching £4.09 billion, up from £3.69 billion the same time a year ago.
Pearson’s education department did exceptionally well, with the publishing body enjoying a 22% increase in profits, hitting £348 million, while earnings per share, rose to 40.4 pence from 30.8 pence.
The Financial Times returned to profit, enjoying a 9% increase in advertising revenues, continuing its steady performance throughout 2005 (see Pearson Enjoys Strong 2005).
Commenting on the figures, Marjorie Scardino, chief executive of Pearson said: “These excellent results illustrate the quality and potential of the business we have built. Our leadership in growth markets, innovation and efficiencies give us real momentum and we expect our strong performance to continue in 2006 and beyond.”
These results are in line with earlier predictions made by Pearson, revealing that trading in the first nine months of 2005 had seen sales rise by 10%, with operating profit increasing by 20% (see Pearson Optimistic As FT Looks Set To Break Even).
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