Ad revenues resilient at FT as profits rise at Pearson

by Alex Donohue, Brand Republic 22-Oct-07, 09:00

LONDON - Pearson said that ad revenues at the The Financial Times were up 9% for the first nine months of the year as the group reported a 20% increase in operating profits.

The group said all of its businesses were trading in line or ahead of previous guidance, and that it expected to achieve strong underlying growth on its key financial measures for the full year.

In the third quarter sales were up 4% and operating profits were up 17%, following a strong performance across its education portfolio.

Pearson's FT Publishing business registered an 8% rise in sales, across the Financial Times and FT.com, and said ad revenues were "resilient" rising 9% over the first nine months of the year compared to 7% in the first six months, while the group expects double-digit growth across the division for the year.

Marjorie Scardino, chief executive of Pearson, said: "We're benefiting from rapid take-up of our learning technologies, sustained increases in our audience and advertising at the FT, and bestselling publishing combined with operating efficiency at Penguin.

"This increases our confidence that 2007 will be another year of record profits for 2007."

Meanwhile, the publisher said it had produced steady growth across its education portfolio, which had benefited from sustained investment in technology and services, and was on track to record full-year sales growth in the region of 4 to 6%.

During the last quarter, Pearson has been linked with abandoning its paid-for content strategy across FT.com, after making some of its articles freely available online.

The move follows the announcement by New York Times that it was to ditch subscription charges across its website in September, and that News Corp chairman Rupert Murdoch was considering doing the same for the Wall Street Journal in August.