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FT ad revenues up as Pearson profits leap

by Daniel Farey-Jones Brand Republic 30-Jul-07, 10:50

LONDON - Pearson, owner of the Financial Times, has unveiled a strong set of first-half results, including a big rise in operating profit at FT Publishing from £11m to £23m.

Pearson's share price rose 1.1% this morning to 778.5p, after it announced that pre-tax profits grew 186% year on year to £40m. Revenues grew 3% to £1.7bn.

Its education arm, which generates most of Pearson's revenues in the second half, made a first-half profit of £5m, compared with a small loss last year.

The FT's ad revenues grew 5% in the first half of the year, while content revenues were also improved. There was a 1% rise in the newspaper's circulation and a 12% rises in newspaper subscribers and FT.com subscribers.

Last month, the FT hiked its daily cover price from £1 to £1.30, and its Saturday cover price from £1.50 to £1.80.

Marjorie Scardino, chief executive of Pearson, said: "Our half-year results are always just a hint of our potential for the year, but certainly a strong hint this year. The Financial Times Group is showing the value of its unique strategy."

Around £4m of the increase in FT Publishing's operating profit came from mergers and acquisitions intelligence service Mergermarket, which was acquired in 2006.

The division also includes French business newspaper Les Echos, which Pearson is currently attempting to sell to Bernard Arnault's LVMH group, despite deep worker opposition.

Pearson has been criticised for ignoring an offer from Les Echos management to buy the company, The Times reported today. It quoted Erik Izraelewicz, who is to take up the Les Echos editor's job on September 1, saying: "We didn't even have a chance to put together an MBO [before Pearson entered exclusive talks with LVMH]."