Pearson sees workforce skills training boosting growth
Adds CEO comments in paragraphs 3-5, 9-10, shares in paragraph 11
By Paul Sandle
LONDON, July 29 (Reuters) -British education company Pearson PSON.L said opportunities to help train the nurses and teachers of the future and to deploy AI to help students study would underpin an acceleration in growth beyond 2025.
Chief Executive Omar Abbosh, who joined early this year, set out his strategy alongside first-half results that showed sales rose 2% on an underlying basis and adjusted operating profit rose 4% to 250 million pounds ($321.75 million).
"Assessments and verification are at the core of our business and will continue to be so," he said on Monday.
In the medium term - beyond the company's current forecasts for this year and next - he said there were opportunities for compelling growth in early careers training and enterprise skills.
"There are already thousands of unfilled roles in key professions such as nursing or teaching in both the U.S. and the UK," he said. "And there's strong demand for talent sourcing, up-skilling and certification."
Pearson said it expected to meet forecasts for the full year, which currently stand at 3.7% growth in organic revenue and adjusted operating profit of 621 million pounds.
For 2025, it expects to achieve an adjusted operating margin of 16%-17%.
Beyond 2025, the strategy would deliver mid-single digit revenue growth and a 40 point margin improvement, including investments, Chief Financial Officer Sally Johnson said.
Abbosh said he was "very happy" with Pearson's portfolio of businesses, which includes virtual learning, higher education, English language learning and workforce skills as well as assessment and qualifications.
He said he would look at acquisitions, but he liked organic growth "a lot".
Shares in Pearson, which have risen 13% in the last eight weeks, were trading down 2.75% at 0941 GMT.
($1 = 0.7770 pounds)
Editing by Kylie MacLellan; Editing by Kirsten Donovan
免责声明: XM Group仅提供在线交易平台的执行服务和访问权限，并允许个人查看和/或使用网站或网站所提供的内容，但无意进行任何更改或扩展，也不会更改或扩展其服务和访问权限。所有访问和使用权限，将受下列条款与条例约束：(i) 条款与条例；(ii) 风险提示；以及(iii) 完整免责声明。请注意，网站所提供的所有讯息，仅限一般资讯用途。此外，XM所有在线交易平台的内容并不构成，也不能被用于任何未经授权的金融市场交易邀约和/或邀请。金融市场交易对于您的投资资本含有重大风险。
所有在线交易平台所发布的资料，仅适用于教育/资讯类用途，不包含也不应被视为用于金融、投资税或交易相关咨询和建议，或是交易价格纪录，或是任何金融商品或非应邀途径的金融相关优惠的交易邀约或邀请。
本网站上由XM和第三方供应商所提供的所有内容，包括意见、新闻、研究、分析、价格、其他资讯和第三方网站链接，皆保持不变，并作为一般市场评论所提供，而非投资性建议。所有在线交易平台所发布的资料，仅适用于教育/资讯类用途，不包含也不应被视为适用于金融、投资税或交易相关咨询和建议，或是交易价格纪录，或是任何金融商品或非应邀途径的金融相关优惠的交易邀约或邀请。请确保您已阅读并完全理解，XM非独立投资研究提示和风险提示相关资讯，更多详情请点击 这里。
