Pearson climbs as move to ditch the textbooks pays off in swelling profit

Pearson’s decision to move away from textbooks towards digital appears to be paying off after the firm reported sales growth across the group.

It posted revenue up 2% to £1.83 billion for the six months ended June 30, boosted by its online businesses and fresh contract wins in places like Egypt, where it will run the national high school assessment programme.

Profit was up 35% at £144 million.

Pearson has undergone rapid change under chief executive John Fallon and this year it has been phasing out physical textbooks as it shifts to “digital-first publishing”.

Fallon said: “We’ve had a good first half, with underlying growth across all divisions, as we start to benefit from accelerating our shift to digital. We are on track to at least stabilise revenue this year and return the company to top line growth from 2020.”

The results mark a turning point for Pearson after more than five years of sales declines. It has been forced to cut thousands of jobs to shrink its cost base while investing in its digital business.

It expects to axe £130 million in costs this year.

The shares rose 5%, or 45p, to 920p.