FT publisher Pearson posts 72 per cent profit growth
28 Feb 2012
Denying that the Financial Times could be sold, the head of Pearson, Dame Marjorie Scardino, has earmarked another £1 billion for acquisitions to take forward the education group's international expansion.
Pearson, which is also owner of the books publisher Penguin and Edexcel, Britain's main exams-testing body, spent £900 million last year as it started recycling proceeds from the sale of its stakes in the data provider IDC and the FTSE indices business.
The money was spent on testing, technology and work-training firms in China, the US and Britain.
Pearson posted an underlying operating profit 12 per cent higher at £942 million and sales that were up 6 per cent at £5.9 billion. Ebook revenues of Penguin's more than doubled.
Digital FT subscriptions were up 29 per cent to 267,000, that made up 44 per cent of the newspaper's paid circulation.
The dividend rose 9 per cent to 42p.