Pearson 1st Half Pretax Profit Fell; Raises Adjusted EPS Guidance
July 26 2019 - 3:04AM
Dow Jones News
By Adria Calatayud
Pearson PLC (PSON.LN) said Friday that pretax profit fell 94% in
the first half but adjusted operating profit exceeded expectations,
and raised its adjusted earnings per share guidance.
The London-based education company said pretax profit fell to 13
million pounds ($16.2 million) in the first half compared with
GBP202 million in the same period a year earlier. The company
attributed the lower profit to declining business sales and higher
restructuring charges.
Adjusted operating profit--the company's preferred metric, which
strips out exceptional and other one-off items--grew to GBP144
million from GBP107 million. This compared with analysts'
expectations of GBP136 million, according to a company-provided
consensus.
First-half organic revenue growth was up 2%, topping analysts'
expectations of a 1% to 2% rise, Pearson said. Total revenue fell
to GBP1.83 billion from GBP1.87 billion a year earlier.
Pearson raised its adjusted EPS guidance to between 57.5 pence
and 63.0 pence for 2019, from between 55.5 pence and 61.0 pence
previously, reflecting more favorable finance charges, taxation and
currency rates.
The board raised its interim dividend to 6 pence a share from
5.5 pence a share a year earlier.
Write to Adria Calatayud at
adria.calatayudvaello@dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
July 26, 2019 02:49 ET (06:49 GMT)
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