Penguin Parent reports rise in profits
Penguin publishing business parent Pearson has said better-than-expected trading in its education arm offset a 40% plunge in interim earnings from newspapers and magazines.
Pearson reported a 13% rise in pre-tax profits to £62 million in the first six months of the year thanks largely to an 80% surge in international education profits.
Shares rose 9% as Monday’s results came in higher than analysts had forecast.
Pearson – which has been diversifying its business away from a traditional publisher over the past 10 years – said while circulation at the Financial Times newspaper declined by 6%, the number of paying online subscribers rose 18% to more than 117,000.
The Economist, in which Pearson owns a 50% stake, saw weekly circulation grow by 6.4% and earnings rise 26% to £56 million.
In education, its north US business swung out of the red, with half-year operating profits of £12 million against losses of £16 million a year earlier.
Penguin struggled in a tough first half, with earnings down by 23%, but is looking to strong upcoming releases including new titles by Jamie Oliver, Eoin Colfer and Nick Hornby to help the division.
Posted: August 1st, 2009
Author: Lee
Categories: Eoin Colfer
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Apartment 16 by Adam Nevill
Some doors are better left closed . . . In Barrington House, an upmarket block in London, there is an empty apartment. No one goes in, no one comes out. And it’s been that way for fifty years. Until the night watchman hears a disturbance after midnight and investigates. What he experiences is enough to change his life forever.
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