I'm not sure if there is much interest for these on here - but I've been following them this year. They have had a rapid climb recently - is it time to take profits?

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Pearson Fundamentals (PSON)

Pearson plc said it has told the Libyan Investment Authority that its shares in the company are frozen. The group announced last June that the LIA had acquired 24.4m shares and on further investigation believed it had acquired an additional 2.1m, taking its stake to 3.27%. Having taken legal advice regarding its obligations, Pearson considered the shares were subject to UN and UK sanctions and therefore effectively frozen. Pearson will not register any transfer or pay any dividend in respect of the shares until further notice.

Pearson acquisition cleared by OFT

The Office of Fair Trading has decided not to refer the proposed acquisition by Pearson of Education Development International to the Competition Commission.

Interim Results.

PEARSON 2011 INTERIM RESULTS (unaudited)



Pearson sales up 6% to 2.4bn and profits up 20% to 208m*

Education sales up 9% and profits up 31%:

o Good sales growth in International (up 26%) and Professional (up 35%).

o In North America, sales 3% lower with tough first-half comparables; full-year growth expected with easing H2 comparables and further market share gains.

FT Group sales up 7% and profits up 10%, enhanced by digital subscriptions.

Penguin sales 4% lower (underlying sales level); profits sustained with rapid digital growth.



Strong growth in digital, developing markets and newly-acquired businesses

Education digital platform and service registrations up 15%; FT.com subscriptions up more than 30%; Penguin ebook revenues up almost 130%.

Sales up approximately 40% in developing markets (headline growth).

Strong growth from recent acquisitions including Wall Street Institute, SEB (Brazil), TutorVista, CTI (South Africa) and Melorio (now known as Pearson in Practice).



Full year outlook upgraded

Pearson expects sales and margin growth for the full year, based on good trading momentum - especially in digital businesses and developing markets - and easing comparatives.

Pearson expects to achieve adjusted EPS of approximately 80p for the full year (2010: 77.5p). This guidance is struck at current exchange rates (1: $1.63).



Interim dividend raised by 8% to 14.0p.



Marjorie Scardino, chief executive, said: "Though market conditions are anything but easy, we are sufficiently encouraged by our start to the year to raise both our guidance and our dividend. Structural changes in our industries are gathering pace, but we are confident that we have the strategy, the competitive positions, the investment capacity and the culture to sustain our strong record of performance."

Interim Management Statement.

PEARSON NINE-MONTH INTERIM MANAGEMENT STATEMENT

Sales up 6% and operating profit up 13%*

All businesses trading as expected

Adjusted EPS now expected to be approximately 83p per share, benefiting from lower interest and tax

PEARSON TO ACQUIRE GLOBAL EDUCATION IN CHINA FOR $155M

Pearson, the world's leading learning company, is today announcing that it has agreed to acquire Global Education and Technology Group, a leading provider of test preparation services for students in China who are learning English.

Global Education is listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange (NASDAQ: GEDU). Pearson has agreed to acquire the company for $155m in cash, comprised of a headline price of $294m or $11.006 per American Depository Share offset by an expected cash balance of $139m at closing. The acquisition is subject to the approval of Global Education's shareholders and is expected to complete in the fourth quarter of 2011.

Global Education is a leading provider of test preparation services in China for students who are working towards internationally-recognised English language assessments. These tests are important to students who want to study outside China; to professionals who want to demonstrate their English skills to Chinese or international companies; and to academic institutions, corporations and governments as they evaluate admissions, employment and immigration applications. Pearson estimates that approximately 500,000 Chinese students take these tests each year, a four-fold increase over the past five years which has produced rapid growth in spending on related teaching and preparation services.

Pearson sells FTSE



Publishing group Pearson today announced that it has agreed to sell its 50% stake in FTSE International Limited to the London Stock Exchange Group for GBP450m in cash.

FTSE is a world-leader in the creation and management of more than 200,000 equity, bond and alternative asset class indices. With offices in London, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai, Madrid, Milan, Mumbai, Paris, New York, San Francisco, Sydney and Tokyo, FTSE works with partners and clients in 80 countries worldwide.

Pearson and London Stock Exchange Group currently each own 50% of FTSE. Under the terms of the agreement, London Stock Exchange Group will acquire from Pearson the 50% of FTSE that it does not own and continue to use the FTSE name. The transaction is expected to close by the first quarter of 2012.

In 2010, FTSE reported total revenues of GBP98.5m and total EBITDA of GBP40m. At 31st December 2010, FTSE had gross assets of GBP100.8m.

Pearson expects FTSE to make a total post-tax contribution to Pearson's adjusted earnings of approximately GBP£18m or 2.2p per share in 2011.

The transaction follows the sale of Pearson's stake in Interactive Data last year for $2bn. It marks Pearson's exit from companies that are primarily providers of financial data and strengthens the FT Group's focus on global business news, analysis and intelligence, increasingly delivered through subscription models and digital channels.

Pearson said it intends to use the proceeds of the sale to support and accelerate its strategy, investing in its businesses both organically and through acquisitions of companies with complementary content, technology and geographic exposure. In recent years Pearson's organic investments have enabled it to gain share in many of its markets. The company has also made a series of bolt-on acquisitions (including vocational training companies in the UK, global business intelligence through Mergermarket, universities in South Africa, online learning businesses in North America, language schools in China and school systems in Brazil) which have rapidly enhanced Pearson's earnings and return on invested capital.

Marjorie Scardino, Pearson's CEO, said: 'FTSE is a bellwether of global financial markets and a world-class business. We have enjoyed supporting the company's excellent and highly professional team to build the business. Proud as we are of that long association, FTSE's strategy is different from our own. We wish it every success as we continue to build our digital business information services around the Financial Times.

'For Pearson, the transaction further strengthens our financial position at a time of significant macroeconomic turbulence. We are freeing up capital for continued investment in a proven strategy: becoming more digital, more international and more service-oriented in education, business information and consumer publishing.'

Questor share tip: education provides the answer for investors in Pearson

Telegraph staff, 7:16, Tuesday 13 December 2011

Pearson (EUREX: PSOF.EX - news) 's sale of its 50pc stake in indices provider FTSE International for 450m appears to be a good deal.

Pearson 11.28 -16p Questor says HOLD

"The valuation of FTSE International is quite significantly above our expectations," said Thomas Singlehurst, an analyst at Citigroup (NYSE: C - news) .

Indeed, the transaction implies that the London Stock Exchange (LSE: LSE.L - news) (LSE) is paying 22.5 times earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (ebitda) to take full control of FTSE International. "Nobody thought it (FTSE International) made that much money or that it would command that sort of multiple," said Mark Braley, an analyst at Deutsche Bank (Xetra: 514000 - news) .

But is Pearson's new-found deal-making prowess a good reason to own the shares?

Financially, the transaction will initially be dilutive to earnings per share, according to Citigroup. However, the broker believes "dilution is only half of the story" because the company now has an 800m war chest to use on future acquisitions, which may be significantly accretive to earnings.

Still, the deal raises questions about Dame Marjorie Scardino's strategy for the rest of the company's financial information businesses, such as the Financial Times , and how they fit in the education publishing giant.

Pearson said the FTSE International sale "marks Pearson's exit from companies that are primarily providers of financial data and strengthens the FT Group's focus on global business news, analysis and intelligence, increasingly delivered through subscription models and digital channels."

However, that line of argument appears somewhat muddled given that some of the FT Group's divisions rely on generating subscriptions by providing financial data combined with news to the financial services industry.

Other potential areas of concern include The Daily Telegraph's exposof exam standards and education business practices in the UK. Broker Panmure Gordon noted that one of the exam boards under scrutiny is Edexcel, which is wholly-owned by Pearson.

Alex DeGroote, an analyst at the broker, said: "It remains to be seen what the outcome of the investigation is, but Ofqual the UK regulator could in theory disqualify a failing exam board."

Edexcel, though, only comprises around 5pc of Pearson group profit, according to Panmure Gordon, and Mr DeGroote concluded that in this context, the fallout from this investigation is unlikely to be "material" to forecasts.

Given that education accounts for around 80pc of Pearson's operating profits, investors really need to base their investment decisions and keep an eye on what is happening in this market, especially in the US as the country provides a large amount of Pearson's revenues and profits.

However, fears about cutbacks in US state spending on education have been lingering for the last four years and analysts do not believe there is any particular catalyst in the near future to trigger significant reduction on educational spending.

On that note, investors should hold on to their shares given they currently trade on a 3.6pc dividend yield and are a relatively low-risk investment.

15 Dec Goldman Sachs Buy Old TP 1,267.00 New TP 1,345.00 Upgrades

Thursday 19 Jan

Pearson (EUREX: PSOF.EX - news) 's update will shine a light on Penguin (SES: E2:P13.SI - news) 's performance in the run up to Christmas, and on whether the crucial festive sales period was sufficient to lift the year-on-year decline in sales seen in

the first nine months of the year.

Investors will be keeping a sharp eye on revenues at the North American education business, which has been hit by cuts in public spending and a slowdown in college enrolments. On a more positive note, however, Pearson's professional and international education units are expected to continue their strong performances, bolstering confidence in the company's ongoing expansion into emerging markets.

Press Release
19 January 2012

PEARSON TRADING UPDATE

Strong competitive performance in tough markets;

2011 adjusted EPS growth of approximately 10%

Pearson, the world's leading learning company, is today providing its regular January trading update. We will report preliminary results for 2011 on 27 February 2012.

In the context of significant structural industry change and generally weak market conditions, Pearson performed well competitively through the important year-end selling season. We continue to benefit from rapid growth in digital services, our expanding position in developing economies and the continuing transformation of our business portfolio. For the year as a whole, Pearson generated approximately GBP2bn ($3bn) of digital revenues and approximately GBP600m ($1bn) of revenues in emerging markets. We now expect to report 2011 adjusted earnings per share growth of approximately 10% (compared to 77.5p per share reported in 2010), ahead of our previous guidance of approximately 83p per share.

In North American education we have continued to gain market share and grow rapidly in digital learning. These strengths, together with a resilient performance from our education technology and services businesses, have enabled us to offset weak market conditions in the school and higher education publishing industries. In International education, we continued to Perform well in developing markets, digital learning, assessment and English Language Teaching, while macroeconomic pressure in developed markets resulted in school publishing remaining generally subdued. Our professional education business grew in the fourth quarter, with good growth in Professional Testing and digital publishing.

At the Financial Times Group, we expect to report good growth despite weak and volatile advertising market conditions. Our digital and subscription-based revenues at both the FT and Mergermarket continued to climb.

Penguin's publishing performance was strong in our key trading season and we will report solid results despite rapid industry change and tough conditions in the physical book retail market. Penguin continues to benefit from its Innovation and scale in the fast-growing digital books market.

Across Pearson, we are benefiting from recent portfolio changes, using the proceeds from disposals to invest in fast-growing businesses in developing economies and digital services. The 2011 results will show a good contribution from new bolt-on acquisitions even after expensed integration costs. Late in 2011, we completed the acquisitions of Connections Education in the US and Global Education in China, and we will therefore expense further integration costs in our education business in 2012. We also completed the sale of our 50% stake in FTSE International Limited for GBP450m in December 2011, providing additional headroom for further bolt-on acquisitions.

For the full year, we expect our total interest charge to adjusted earnings to be approximately GBP55m and our effective tax rate to be around the low end of our guidance of 22-24%. As previously stated, our interest and tax charges both contain one-off benefits in 2011.

Pearson generates approximately 60% of its sales in the US. The average GBP:$ exchange rate during 2011 was 1.60. The year end GBP:$ exchange rate was 1.55. A five cent move in the average GBP:$ exchange rate for the full year has an impact of approximately 1.3p on adjusted earnings per share.

ENDS

Well I didn't think the statement was that bad - but I guess its had another healthy run of late.

A balanced view :-)

JP Morgan Cazenove reiterates Overweight TP 1,425.00

UBS reiterates Buy TP 1,450.00

Credit Suisse reiterates Outperform TP 1,210.00

Exane BNP Paribas reiterates Neutral TP 1,200.00

Nomura reiterates Reduce TP 1 ,200.00

Final Results.

PEARSON 2011 PRELIMINARY RESULTS (UNAUDITED)

Financial performance
· Sales up 6% at CER in spite of tough trading conditions in many markets.
· Adjusted operating profit up 12% to £942m with growth in all businesses.
· Adjusted EPS up 12% to 86.5p (headline growth).
· Cash conversion remains strong at 104%; operating cash flow of £983m (£1,057m in 2010, which benefited from an unusually high working capital contribution).
· Return on invested capital of 9.1%, above Pearson's cost of capital; ROIC lower than in 2010 largely due to significant acquisition spend and higher cash tax.

Growth markets
· Digital revenues up 18% in headline terms to £2bn, now 33% of Pearson's sales. Substantial digital growth in all parts of Pearson including:
o Students using our digital learning programmes up 23% to 43m.
o Penguin eBook revenues up 106%; now 12% of total Penguin revenues.
o FT digital subscriptions up 29% to 267,000; approximately 44% of total paid circulation.

· Developing markets revenues up 24% in headline terms to $1bn ($834m in 2010), now 11% of Pearson's sales.

Efficiency
· Operating margins reach 16.1% (up 1.0% points)
· Average working capital: sales ratio improved to 16.9% (20.1% in 2010).

Investment
· Sustained organic investment of approximately £500m in new products and technologies.
· £896m invested in acquisitions including Schoolnet and Connections Education in North America and Global Education in China.
· Strong balance sheet (net debt of £499m) and approximately £1bn of headroom available for bolt-on acquisitions.

Dividend
· Dividend raised 9% to 42.0p, representing Pearson's 20th consecutive dividend increase.

Outlook
· Pearson expects to achieve continued sales and operating profit growth in 2012, in spite of tough trading conditions and rapid industry change.
· Revenues from digital and services businesses expected to exceed revenues from traditional publishing businesses in 2012.


Marjorie Scardino, chief executive, said: "The external environment provides a testing backdrop for these results, and all our industries face some degree of turbulence. But our strategy and long-term planning for change have helped us to another good year to add to our record of persistent out-performance. We believe those qualities, combined with the commitment and innovation of our people, will continue to serve our customers and our shareholders well."

Monday night's Panorama not helping here.

27 April 2012

AGM AND INTERIM MANAGEMENT STATEMENT

Pearson, the world's leading learning company, is today holding its Annual General Meeting and providing an interim management statement for the first three months of 2012.

Pearson is trading in line with the expectations set out in our full-year results announcement on 27 February. In the first three months of the year, we increased sales by 11% at constant exchange rates to GBP1.16bn (an underlying increase of 3% and a headline increase of 12%). Though the external environment remains challenging and we are yet to see signs of improvement, we continue to expect Pearson to achieve growth in sales and operating profits for the year as a whole. This guidance is struck at an exchange rate of GBP1:$1.59. Pearson's profits are heavily weighted to the second half and, as a result of the phasing of revenues, organic investment and restructuring, and the sale of our stake in FTSE International, we expect our first-half operating profits to be lower this year than in 2011.

In education, we have made a good start to the year. Though the US education market remains generally weak, we continue to benefit from our strong position and the rapid growth in our digital and services businesses. International Education is growing well, particularly in developing markets and helped by recent acquisitions and sustained organic investment. Our professional testing and publishing businesses continue to perform well but our UK training business has been adversely affected, as expected, by change in government funding policy related to apprenticeships. We are planning on the basis that trading remains weak in this business and we are taking appropriate steps to change our services and our business model.

Despite the tough environment for corporate advertising and deal-making, the Financial Times and Mergermarket are showing good sales growth. The FT's paid print and digital circulation was 605,000 in the first quarter of 2012, including 285,000 digital subscribers, and the FT is taking further actions in the first half to accelerate its shift from print to digital formats and from advertising to subscription revenues. The FT Group's profits in 2012 will also reflect the sale of our 50% stake in FTSE International in December 2011.

Following several years of particularly strong performance relative to the overall consumer books market, we expect Penguin to perform in line with its industry this year. It will benefit from its consistently strong publishing schedule, which is more concentrated in the second half this year, and its strong position in the fast-growing market for digital books. The industry continues to face significant structural change and, as one example, we intend to mount a robust defence of our actions in the civil proceedings recently announced by the US Department of Justice against Apple and several consumer book publishers including Penguin.

At the end of 2011, Pearson's net debt was GBP499m, giving a net debt/ EBITDA ratio of 0.5x and interest cover of 18.1x. Our net debt increased during the first quarter by GBP206m to GBP705m, level with the first quarter of 2011, as a result of the normal seasonal build-up of working capital ahead of our key selling periods in education and acquisition spend. That strong balance sheet gives us headroom of approximately GBP1bn available to invest in bolt-on acquisitions.

At our AGM today, we are proposing a final dividend of 28.0p, giving a total dividend for 2011 of 42.0p, up 9%. For the 20th consecutive year, Pearson has declared a dividend increase above the rate of inflation.

Pearson generates approximately 60% of its sales in the US. A five cent move in the average GBP:$ exchange rate for the full year (which in 2011 was GBP1:$1.60) has an impact of approximately 1.3p on adjusted earnings per share.

Pearson's AGM takes place today at the Institute of Engineering and Technology, 2 Savoy Place, London WC2R 0BL at 12 noon.

ENDS

Publishing group Pearson was a heavy faller on Monday, extending its losses following its first-half results on Friday. Sentiment has been dampened today after Nomura reiterated its 'reduce' rating on the stock, saying that shares are 'richly priced'. The broker noted in a research report that group organic growth was just 0.6% in the first six months of the year, "unfeasibly low" given that the shares are trading at 14.4 times earnings. The broker has maintained its 1,200p target price on the stock

Publisher Pearson launches UK degree course

Pearson, the major international publisher and education firm, is to become a for-profit private higher education provider in the UK.

The firm is opening Pearson College, teaching a degree course validated by existing London universities.

The business and enterprise degree, taught in London and Manchester, will have about 40 places this year.

The college says it will be for "students who are serious about succeeding in business".

Exane BNP Paribas Upgrades Outperform TP increased from 1,200 to 1,450p.

Pearson CEO Scardino to step down after 16 years

LONDON | Wed Oct 3, 2012 7:47am BST

(Reuters) - Pearson Chief Executive Marjorie Scardino is to step down after 16 years in the job in which she transformed the group from a diverse set of assets into an educational and media powerhouse.

Analysts said the departure of the 65-year-old had come sooner than expected and could lead to further change at the firm, including the possible sale of the Financial Times group which could result in a return of cash to shareholders.

Scardino, who will step down at the end of the year, will be replaced by John Fallon, the chief executive of Pearson's international education division since 2008 and a former head of the group in Europe, Middle East and Africa.

Sale of Non-core Subsidiary

AEC is pleased to announce that it has agreed the sale of its non-core examinations subsidiary, Educational Resources Pte Ltd ("ER"), which provides London Chamber of Commerce & Industry examinations in Asia, to Pearson Education South Asia Pte. Ltd ("Pearson") for a total consideration of £2.5 million cash upon completion and a deferred payment of an amount equal to the net consideration received by Pearson Education Limited (a company owned and controlled by Pearson plc) for the sale of 3,000,000 shares it holds in AEC. The sale is expected to complete before the end of October*.

The sale is in line with the Board's view expressed in the Company's 2011 Annual Report & Accounts that the Group's examination activity was becoming less of a strategic focus as its college activities grow.

For the financial year ended 31 December 2011, ER contributed revenues of S$3.92 million (equivalent to approximately £2 million), representing 10.5% of overall Group revenues. EBITDA was S$205,651 (equivalent to approximately £0.10 million) and its total assets as at 31 December 2011 amounted to S$6.54 million (equivalent to approximately £3.27 million).

The sale proceeds will be used by AEC to expand its core businesses.