Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on January 14, 2026
2 min readLast updated: January 19, 2026
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Pearson reports strong year-end sales growth, aligning 2025 profit forecasts with market expectations despite losing a key U.S. contract.
LONDON, Jan 14 (Reuters) - British education company Pearson reported a jump in sales growth in the final quarter of the year, driven by its Assessment & Qualifications unit and putting it on track to meet the market forecast for 2026 profit to rise by 6%.
Chief Executive Omar Abbosh said Pearson had started 2026 with good momentum, pointing to an increase in business with enterprises, including doing more work with IBM and Deloitte.
"We said we would go deeper on innovation and AI across our full product suite and we have done that," he said in an interview on Wednesday.
In a trading update ahead of full-year results next month, Pearson said its underlying revenue in 2025 grew by 4%, underpinned by 8% growth in the final quarter.
It said adjusted operating profit would be between 610 million and 615 million pounds, in line with market forecasts.
The market, however, marked Pearson's shares down 7.5% in morning deals to the lowest level since December 9.
Dan Coatsworth, head of markets at AJ Bell, said a lack of detail on its guidance and the loss of a U.S. student assessment contract in New Jersey saw Pearson punished in early trading.
Pearson's Chief Financial Officer Sally Johnson said the lost New Jersey contract was worth 20-30 million pounds, adding that the group had a track record of winning similar deals.
(Reporting by Paul Sandle; editing by Sarah Young)
Sales growth refers to the increase in a company's sales over a specific period, usually expressed as a percentage. It indicates how well a company is performing in generating revenue.
Operating profit is the profit a company makes from its core business operations, excluding any income derived from non-operational activities such as investments or sales of assets.
Financial performance is a measure of how well a company can use its assets to generate revenues and profits. It is often assessed through various financial metrics.
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