Member Article

Pearson reveals flat financials amidst selling Financial Times in £844m deal

London-based Pearson, a multinational publishing and education company, has sold The Financial Times to Japanese operator Nikkei, in a deal worth £844m.

Pearson, which also sold PowerSchool to Vista Equity Partners for $350m last month, said it wishes to place greater attention on the education side of the business.

In the first half of 2015, Pearson’s sales increased by £110m in headline terms to £2.2bn primarily due to the depreciation of sterling against the dollar.

However,in a half yearly report released this morning, Pearson has revealed broadly flat first-half underlying growth. Total adjusted pretax profit £43m, down from £47m last year. Although Pearson did stress that it traditionally generates more capital in the second half of the financial year.

Adjusted headline operating profit from continuing operations was broadly level at £72m, a slight decrease on £7m for 2014.

The sale to Nikkei, short for Nihon Keizai Shimbun, marks the end of years of speculation about the FT’s ownership as Pearson has moved away for broad-based publishing to focus on education.

Nikkei is a major player in Japan’s media market, specialising in financial news. Its flagship title, published in morning and evening editions, has a daily circulation of almost three million, making it the world’s largest financial title.

John Fallon, chief executive said:“Overall, we’re competing well, enabling us to reaffirm our full year guidance and increase the interim dividend.

“The new education products and services we’re developing which will enable far more people of all ages to discover the joy of learning and progress in their careers.

“We believe the returns on the significant investments we are making to achieve this goal will be substantial for students, society and our shareholders.”