LONDON: Publishing company Pearson Plc. reported strong growth in its underlying sales for 2005, aided by substantial sales in its textbooks unit and growth in advertising at its Financial Times newspaper.
London-based Pearson did not give any figures in its update that preceded the announcement of its financial results in February. The company said Financial Times will break even and its financial information subsidiary Interactive Data Corporation will have one of its best years. It was also upbeat about 2006.
Its other unit, Penguin Books, too did well. New titles like Sue Grafton's alphabet mystery "S is for Silence" and Jamie Oliver's cookbook "Jamie's Italy" had good sales in the fourth quarter.
The company is therefore on track to report significant underlying growth in sales, adjusted earnings per share, free cash flow and return on invested capital, it said in a statement Tuesday.
Analysts expect the company to have an EPS of 32.8 pence for the year.
The company had reported in November that underlying sales at its text books unit had gained 13 per cent and advertising revenue at the Financial Times had gone up 6 per cent during the first three quarters of 2005. Its text books unit, which includes publication of textbooks in the U.S., accounts for more than 60 per cent of the company's sales and 70 per cent of its profits.
The Financial Times has been trying to settle a 37-million-pound libel suit filed by City broker Collins Stewart. It had sought an adjournment to the hearing, which was to begin Tuesday so that negotiations can be held and a possible settlement arrived.
The latest figures of the Audit Bureau of Circulations indicate that the newspaper's circulation has reached 407,451 in December, an increase of 4.99 per cent.
Pearson shares went up 0.7 per cent at 675 pence Tuesday. They had touched a three-year-high of 700 pence earlier this month.
Posted
on : Wed, 18 Jan 2006 08:35 GMT | Business News
By : Mike Lawson
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