British media group Pearson Plc today reported a 17 per cent fall in pre-tax profit after a year of heavy Internet investment but the results were at the high end of forecasts, boosted by a strong core business.
Pearson, the world's top education publisher which also owns the Financial Times , moved to soothe concerns over its heavy Internet outlay, saying its online education business - the Learning Network - would break even by the end of 2003.
Pre-tax profit before goodwill and integration costs fell to 333 million pounds sterling ($490 million) in the year to end 2000, from 402 million in 1999, after digesting 196 million pounds of Internet investments. Analysts had forecast pre-tax profit of between 320 and 332 million pounds.
The group posted record profits across all its businesses -- education, the Financial Times Group and the Penguin publishing group -- and said it was in good shape to deliver another year of strong revenue and earnings growth.
If there's one number we're particularly proud of it's the nine percent growth in underlying sales, Pearson Finance Director John Makinson told a conference call. We have started this year pretty well .
Pearson shares, which have outperformed the European media sector by 45 percent since the start of 2001, closed at 15.61 pounds on Friday.