109 0 Kommentare Pearson 2024 Q1 Trading Update (Unaudited)

Highlights

Underlying sales growth excluding OPM¹ and Strategic Review² of 3%.
Strong operational progress in all divisions and continued execution momentum across our 2024 strategic priorities.
Continuing to infuse our products with AI and on-track to include AI features in more than 40 Higher Education titles for the Fall semester.
Initial £300m share buyback completed; the previously announced £200m buyback extension has commenced.

Omar Abbosh, Pearson’s Chief Executive, said:
“The year has started well. Financial performance was in line with our expectations, thanks to strong execution across the business, and we maintain a sharp focus on delivering against the priorities that I outlined. The year is unfolding as we anticipated, and we continue to expect an acceleration of growth in the second half, which will see us achieve our guidance for the full year. We look forward to providing an update on our strategic progress with our half year results in July.”

Underlying sales growth of 3%, excluding OPM¹ and Strategic Review²; 2% in aggregate

Assessment & Qualifications sales grew 2% after a particularly strong prior-year performance. VUE, UK & International Qualifications, and Clinical Assessment all contributed to growth. US Student Assessment was impacted by reduced scope, and phasing of some contracts which will normalise in the second half. Pearson VUE won several new contracts, supporting pipeline growth, including university entrance tests in the UK and the teacher licence contract in Georgia. We also renewed two key contracts with the Project Management Institute and the American Registry of Radiologic Technologists. Clinical Assessment saw solid trends and has several product launches planned for the second half. UK & International Qualifications secured a contract with the UK Government for England’s national curriculum assessment tests.
Virtual Schools sales increased 4%, due to the timing of funding upsides, which is expected to dissipate in Q2. We will be opening another virtual school in Missouri, in addition to those previously announced as secured in Pennsylvania and California. We are also on-track to open 19 additional Career Programmes this year. Virtual Learning sales decreased 4%. As a reminder, this included the previously announced OPM ASU contract loss, which benefited sales through the first half of 2023.
Higher Education sales were down 4%, in line with our phasing guidance. Digital registrations increased 3% versus the prior year, and we are pleased with the engagement we are seeing from both students and faculty on our AI study tools. We remain on-track to add this AI feature to more than 40 new titles for the key Fall sales season, which, along with our partnership with Forage, is supporting an improvement in our takeaway wins.
English Language Learning sales increased 22%, with inflationary pricing in Argentina having a positive impact which will dissipate through the year as comparative FX rates normalise³. Excluding this, sales increased high single digits, in line with full year expectations. Institutional delivered a very strong quarter. Pearson Test of English declined slightly due to a strong comparator, and we expect performance will ramp through the year.
Workforce Skills sales grew 9%, in line with our expectations, with growth of 13% in Workforce Solutions. Vishaal Gupta joined Pearson on April 15th to lead the division.