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 Buys Medley Global Advisors

LONDON (Dow Jones)
Pearson PLC (PSON.LN), an education and information company, announced Wednesday the acquisition of Medley Global Advisors LLC (MGA), a premier provider of macro policy intelligence to the world's top investment banks, hedge funds and asset managers.

MAIN FACTS:

-No financial details disclosed

-MGA had estimated gross assets of $7.3 million at the year end.

-The acquisition strengthens the FT's position as a global leader in premium financial information.

-Medley Global Advisors provides in-depth research and analysis through email and verbal consultations to help clients understand and anticipate the major policy events driving interest rate, currency and energy markets.

-The acquisition will enhance the FT's portfolio of services geared towards major global financial institutions and asset managers, including FTfm, its global fund management supplement, and Money-Media, the market leader in online news and commentary for the fund management sector.

Final results.

Sales up 4% at constant exchange rates to 5.6bn; adjusted operating profit up 4% to 858m; underlying sales and profit growth of 2%*;

Headline growth of 13% in adjusted EPS to 65.4p and 15% in operating cash flow to 913m, benefiting from business performance and stronger US dollar;

Education sales up 7% and profits up 14% with significant market share gains, extending leading position in global learning market;

FT Group and Penguin achieve good competitive performances and healthy margins in tough markets;

Digital products and services generate a record 1.7bn of sales, now 31% of Pearson;

Sustained investment of approximately 500m in new education programmes and authors advances;

Dividend raised 5%; another year of underlying profit growth expected in 2010.

Annual Financial Report

Trading Statement.

All parts of the company have made a good start to 2010. We are trading in line with the expectations set out in our full-year results announcement on March 1, and we continue to expect another year of underlying profit growth.

We generated 1.08bn in revenues in the first quarter, an increase of 7% in headline terms and 12% at constant currencies. The first quarter is always a very light trading period for Pearson owing to the seasonal phasing of our book publishing businesses, and we expect these growth rates to moderate as we go through the year.

Pearson to sell 61% Stake in Interactive Data for $33.86 per share:
total proceeds to Pearson of $2billion

Interactive Data Corporation, a leading provider of financial market data, analytics and solutions, is today announcing that it has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by investment funds managed by Silver Lake and Warburg Pincus in a transaction with a total value of $3.4 billion. Pearson, which owns approximately 61% of Interactive Data, has executed a written consent providing approval as a shareholder for the transaction.

The agreement was unanimously approved by the Interactive Data board of directors taking into consideration the recommendation of the Special Committee composed solely of the company's four independent directors. The Special Committee was formed as part of the review of strategic alternatives conducted by Interactive Data's board of directors.

Melorio agrees 99m Pearson offer
Business Financial Newswire
Melorio plc, the AIM-listed vocational training company, have agreed terms of a recommended cash offer from education and information giant, Pearson plc.

The offer will be 225p in cash for each Melorio share and values the company at approximately 99.3m.

The offer price represents a premium of 31.2% to the closing price of 171.5p per Melorio share and 56.9% to the average closing price over the three months to 17 May, 2010.

Pearson believes that the addition of Melorio will support their strategy of building a strong position in the growing global market for vocational learning.

The directors of Melorio intend to unaninmously recommend that shareholders accept the offer.

Interim Results.

STRONG GROWTH IN ALL BUSINESSES; FULL YEAR OUTLOOK UPGRADED

Strong organic growth. Sales up 9% at constant exchange rates with rapid growth in digital services.

All businesses performing well.First-half operating profits doubled at Education, the FT Group and Penguin with good underlying progress also helped by phasing. Adjusted continuing operating profits up 79% to 178m; adjusted EPS of 16.6p (7.9p in 2009).

Interim dividend raised by 7% to 13.0p.

Shift to services and developing economies accelerating. Sale of stake in Interactive Data expected to close in the next few weeks. Process of reinvestment under way with acquisitions of Melorio in vocational training and SEB's sistemas in Brazil.

Full year outlook upgraded. Market conditions remain uncertain and growth is still expected to slow in the second half on tougher comparables. Even so, Pearson expects to achieve adjusted earnings of approximately 70p per share for the full year (65.4p in 2009), even after earnings impact from sale of Interactive Data.

Pearson To Establish New School Services Business In UK

Today : Monday 26 July 2010
Publisher Pearson PLC (PSON.LN) said Monday it will set up a new business to offer services to U.K. schools, after reporting strong first-half results.

Pearson said the new business will offer services to help schools with teaching, planning and administration.

"Historically, we've offered resources and services that support individual teachers but are increasingly being asked for whole school solutions," Rod Bristow, president of Pearson's U.K. operations, said in a statement. "This might include not only helping with the administration, accounting and school management, but also providing an entire framework for school operations."

The business will be run by Anders Hultin, who will join in September as managing director of school improvement. He co-founded the Kunskapsskolan chain of independent schools in Sweden and was its chief executive from 1999 to 2007.

Further details about the business will be released when Hultin joins the group, a Pearson spokesman said.

Pearson, which also publishes the Financial Times newspaper and Penguin books, earlier Monday posted a sharp jump in adjusted operating profit from continuing operations--one of the figures tracked by U.K. analysts--to GBP178 million for the six months ended June 30.

Pearson to acquire Wall Street Institute

TIDMPSON

RNS Number : 1327Q
Pearson PLC
29 July 2010

Pearson to acquire Wall Street Institute:
Acquisition extends Pearson's position as world leader in English language
teaching

Pearson, the education and information company, is today announcing the
acquisition of Wall Street Institute from an affiliate of the The Carlyle Group
and Citi Private Equity for $92m in cash.

Wall Street Institute (WSI) provides premium spoken English training for adults
through a proprietary learning model combining web-based content, class-based
instruction and digital and printed learning materials.

WSI currently has approximately 340 franchised learning centres in 25
territories across Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Latin America. Its major
markets currently include France, Italy, Turkey, Chile, Venezuela, Colombia,
Hong Kong, Korea and Taiwan. WSI supports its franchisees through an
international management infrastructure made up of approximately 50 employees
across the Americas and Europe. WSI also directly operates a small number of
learning centres, primarily in Germany, as flagship centres for testing new
products and sharing best practice across the franchise network.

WSI earned revenues of approximately $60m in 2009. Pearson expects the
acquisition to be earnings neutral in 2011 as it invests to expand the business
in high growth markets, and to enhance adjusted EPS and generate a return above
Pearson's cost of capital from 2012.

PEARSON COMPLETES SALE OF 61% STAKE IN INTERACTIVE DATA

Pearson, the education and information company, has completed the sale of its
61% stake in Interactive Data to investment funds managed by Silver Lake and
Warburg Pincus. The terms of the transaction are in line with the agreement
announced on 4 May 2010.

Interactive Data shareholders will receive $33.86 in cash for each share of
Interactive Data stock they own. The total cash consideration to Pearson is
approximately $2bn before tax.

Rona Fairhead, chief executive of the Financial Times Group, said:
"Interactive Data has been a valued part of the FT Group and Pearson for many
years and has become a world leader in its field. That's the result of the
dedication and talent of its remarkable group of people, and we wish them every
success with their new owners."

PEARSON ACQUIRES THE ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANTS LTD.; EXTENDS LEADERSHIP IN STUDENT INFORMATION SYSTEMS

Pearson, the world's leading learning company, today announced the acquisition of The Administrative Assistants Ltd. (aal), a provider of student information systems in the worldwide K-12 school market.

Student information systems provide administrators, parents, teachers and students with information on grades, homework, attendance, reporting and other elements vital to school performance and personalised learning.

Pearson is the leader in the SIS market, providing support to about 11 million students through the PowerSchool and Chancery SMS systems, and the acquisition of aal expands Pearson's SIS reach to more than 15 million students globally.

Based in Burlington, Ontario, aal provides the Web-based system known as eSIS which has been implemented in locations ranging from North Carolina in the U.S. to Abu Dhabi in the Gulf, and aal's products will provide increased international market opportunities for Pearson in the K-12 market. Gross assets of aal are C$13m and 2010 revenues for the year ending September 30 were C$14m.

Trading Statement.

PEARSON TRADING STATEMENT


RAISING GUIDANCE FOR 2010;

ADJUSTED EARNINGS PER SHARE EXPECTED TO GROW APPROXIMATELY 16%;

2011 EXPECTED TO BE ANOTHER GOOD YEAR

Pearson, the world's leading learning company, is today providing its regular January trading update. We will report preliminary results for 2010 on 28 February 2011.

All of Pearson's major businesses sustained their strong trading momentum throughout 2010. We will report healthy sales growth and further margin improvement, fuelled by our consistent investment in the global learning industry, in digital services and in developing economies.

As a result, we now expect to report continuing operating profits for 2010 of approximately 850m, a headline increase of approximately 20% (compared with 710m in 2009, excluding Interactive Data, which was sold in July 2010, from both years). We expect to report adjusted earnings of approximately 76p per share, an increase of approximately 16% on 65.4p in 2009, and ahead of our previous guidance of approximately 72p.

Marjorie Scardino, chief executive, said: "For the third successive year, our growth is vigorous even though market conditions have been anaemic. That confirms the soundness of our strategy and the increasing strength of our market positions. We are on the right road and set out on 2011 with confidence that we will have another good year."

Our North American education business continues to achieve market share gains and significant growth in digital learning and will report good sales growth and margin improvement. We have benefited once again from healthy demand and our consistent industry-leading performance in higher education, though the continued pressure on state budgets has constrained our school publishing and testing businesses.

In International education, we posted a strong fourth quarter. Developing markets, digital learning, assessment and English Language Teaching were all strong, while developed markets and school publishing remained subdued. We are successfully integrating recent bolt-on acquisitions in China, Brazil, South Africa and Nigeria. On 18 January 2011, we announced that we had taken a controlling stake in TutorVista, expanding our presence into global online tutoring and the school market in India.

Our professional education business remained steady in the fourth quarter, with good growth in Professional Testing and digital publishing once again offsetting challenging conditions in the physical book market. On 11 January 2011, we announced a 12-year extension of our relationship with the Graduate Management Admission Council to administer the Graduate Management Admission Test.

The Financial Times Group finished the year strongly and we will report substantial profit growth (excluding Interactive Data which was sold in July 2010). Advertising markets continued to improve and our subscription-based revenues remained resilient.

Penguin continues to benefit from its leadership in the rapidly-expanding market for digital reading and has posted a very good competitive performance. We performed strongly in our key trading season and will report record results despite tough conditions in the physical book retail market.

For the full year, we continue to expect our total interest charge to adjusted earnings to be approximately 90m. We now expect our effective tax rate to be around the low end of our previous guidance of 25-27%.


ENDS

Market outlook: HSBC, Pearson, ITV, GKN

http://www.whatinvestment.co.uk/trading/markets/news/1605403/market-outlook-hsbc-pearson-itv-gkn.thtml

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.