Pearson May Be Rethinking That "Sell the Financial Times" Strategy

First up, the Press Gazette:

FT Group boosts profits to £55 million as business daily's digital subs rise to 415,000

The FT Group made a profit of £55 million last year despite plunging print circulation figures for the FT according to results reported this morning.

Profit was said to be up 17 per cent year on year, on an underlying basis.

According to parent company Pearson, the FT’s total circulation grew by 8 per cent to 652,000 when digital subscribers are added to the print total.

The FT claims that this circulation figure is the highest "paying readership" in the newspaper’s 126-year history. The current print circulation of the FT is 234,000 - of which 23,764 are bulk copies.

FT Group said in a statement: “FT.com digital subscriptions grew 31 per cent to 415,000, more than offsetting planned reductions in print circulation. Digital subscribers now represent almost two-thirds of the FT’s total paying audience and corporate users grew nearly 60 per cent to more than 260,000....MORE

And from Bloomberg:

Pearson Plunges as Earnings Drop on Education in North America

Pearson Plc (PSON) fell as much as 8 percent after saying it wouldn’t emerge from a difficult transition period until 2015 after earnings plunged last year on weak demand in U.S. higher education and restructuring costs. 

Adjusted operating profit fell 21 percent to 736 million pounds ($1.23 billion) in 2013 from 932 million pounds a year earlier, the London-based publisher of the Financial Times newspaper said in a statement today. Sales rose 2.3 percent to 5.18 billion pounds, missing the 5.8 billion-pound estimate by analysts in a Bloomberg survey.

Pearson, which earns about 60 percent of revenue in the U.S., said in January that lower freshman enrollments and bookstore purchases hurt earnings in the country. Pearson has been reorganizing to speed growth in emerging markets and digital services as a slowdown in some large textbook markets restrains profit. Pressure on its U.S. performance should ease from 2015 as curriculum changes take effect and college enrollments stabilize, it said today....MORE