Pearson 1Q Sales Fall
April 29 2016 - 2:55AM
Dow Jones News
By Simon Zekaria
LONDON--Pearson PLC (PSON.LN), the U.K.-based education
specialist, Friday posted a fall in first-quarter sales, but said
it is trading in line with its expectations.
The company said sales on an adjusted basis in the first three
months of the year fell 6% year-over-year. On an adjusted basis,
sales fell 4%, hit by weakness in the U.S. and U.K. At constant
exchange rates, sales fell 9%.
It continues to expect to report adjusted operating profit
between GBP580 million ($849 million) and GBP620 million and
adjusted earnings per share between 50 pence and 55 pence for
2016.
"Pearson has had a solid start to the year, in line with our
expectations," said Chief Executive John Fallon.
The company proposed a final dividend of 34 pence a share,
giving a total dividend of 52 pence for 2015, up 2%
year-over-year.
At the start of this year, Pearson launched fresh cost-savings
program worth half a billion dollars and axed 10% of its workforce
world-wide to absorb the impact of trading pressures across its key
markets, including the U.S.
News Corp. (NWS), which owns Dow Jones & Co., publisher of
The Wall Street Journal, competes with Pearson's book publishing
and education divisions.
Shares closed Thursday at 815 pence, valuing the company at
GBP6.69 billion.
Write to Simon Zekaria at simon.zekaria@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
April 29, 2016 02:40 ET (06:40 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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