LONDON (dpa-AFX) - Pearson Plc (PSO, PSON.L), a British education services provider, on Friday, reported a rise in preliminary pre-tax income for the full year, supported by reduced costs and expenses, higher sales from English language learning, and assessment, qualifications segments.
For the 12 months, the company posted a pre-tax income of 493 million pounds, higher than 323 million pounds in the previous year.
Net profit stood at 380 million pounds or 52.7 pence per share as against last year's 244 million pounds or 32.6 pence per share.
Operating profit surged to 498 million pounds from 271 million pounds a year ago. The growth was driven by trading profit improvements and a reduction in the costs of major restructuring, partially offset by net loss related to acquisitions and disposals compared to a net gain in 2022.
Adjusted operating profit was up at 573 million pounds from 456 million pounds a year ago.
Operating expenses were 1.322 billion pounds, down from 1.549 billion pounds in 2022.
Cost of goods sold slipped to 1.839 billion pounds from last year's 2.046 billion pounds.
English Language Learning segment registered sales of 415 million pounds as against last year's 321 million pounds.
Sales of the Assessment and Qualifications segment stood at 1.559 billion pounds, higher than 1.444 billion pounds a year ago.
Sales were 3.674 billion pounds, down from the previous year's 3.841 billion pounds, reflecting business performance, portfolio changes, and currency movements.
The Group said that it intends to extend its previously announced ongoing 300 million pounds of share repurchase program by 200 million pounds.
For the full year, Pearson will pay a final dividend of 15.7 pence per share bringing the total for the year to 22.7 pence per share, higher than last year's 21.5 pence per share. The final dividend will be paid on May 3 to shareholders on record March 22.
Looking ahead to the full year, Pearson expects its underlying sales growth and adjusted operating profit to be in line with current market expectations. This shows an underlying sales growth of 3.7 percent with adjusted operating profit of 621 million pounds.
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