The Bookseller.com

10th January 2009

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Pearson looks outside US

21.01.08

Pearson Education's sights are now increasingly set on markets in the developing nations of the Middle East, Asia and Africa, reports the Times.

Although the group’s dependence on America is still great -- 1p is wiped from underlying earnings per share for every adverse five cent swing in the pound-dollar exchange rate -- income from education beyond America passed $2 billion (£1 billion) in 2007 and is rising at 14% annually. More than half that is from Europe, including Britain, followed by Canada and Asia.

With sales up from $1.2 billion in 2004, that makes Pearson three times the size of its nearest rival outside America, the French publisher Lagardère.

But the ADU example also shows that the company has an appetite to expand beyond the straightforward supply of learning materials, school tests and student records.

Times

pearson education