On track to meet full year expectations
· Total revenues were flat year on year with declines in US Higher Education Courseware offset by the rest of the company growing in aggregate.
· 2018 adjusted operating profit guidance remains unchanged, reiterating underlying profit growth.
Continued progress in our structural growth opportunities
· Online Program Management (OPM) saw good growth in revenue with global course registrations up 13%.
· Connections Academy, our K12 virtual schools business, saw good growth in revenue and a new partner school was approved for the 2019/20 school year.
· In English, Pearson Test of English Academic (PTE Academic) grew test volume by 34%.
· Professional Certification revenues grew well.
US Higher Education Courseware down, in line with guidance
· Revenue declined 3% with lower gross sales, partially offset by digital sales growth and better returns.
· During the quarter, revenues were modestly impacted by delivery delays related to the implementation of our new enterprise software systems in the US. We expect this timing effect to largely reverse in the fourth quarter.
Simplification plans on track
· We remain on track to deliver £300m1 of annualised cost savings, with the full benefits accruing from the end of 2019 onwards.
· US K12 Courseware business remains as held-for-sale.
Underlying profit guidance unchanged, strong balance sheet
· We continue to expect Pearson to deliver adjusted operating profit in 2018 in the range of £520m to £560m.
· As a result of one-off tax benefits and a resulting lower finance charge we now expect 2018 adjusted EPS to be in the range of 68p to 72p.
· We continue to expect year end net debt to be in line with 2017
https://www.investegate.co.uk/pearson-p ... 00042675E/