Pearson to Cut 3,000 Jobs, 1st Half Pretax Loss Narrows

By Rory Gallivan

LONDON--Education company Pearson PLC (PSON.LN) on Friday said it plans to cut around 3,000 jobs as it reported a reduced first-half pretax loss.

The job cuts are part of an ongoing restructuring program as the London-listed provider of textbooks, language courses and other educational products and services grapples with issues including declining college enrollment and tough competition in the U.S.

Pearson signaled in May it would cut more jobs.

The company posted a pretax loss of 10 million pounds ($13.1 million) for the six months ended June 30, down from a GBP306 million loss the previous year. Revenue rose to GBP2.05 billion from GBP1.87 billion.

The dividend fell to 5 pence from 18 pence in line with recently announced plans to cut the payout, but Pearson also said it will return GBP300 million to shareholders in buybacks following the sale of its stake in the book publisher Penguin Random House.

Guidance for the full year remains unchanged, Pearson said.

-Write to Rory Gallivan at [e-mail]; Twitter: @RoryGallivan

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 04, 2017 02:53 ET (06:53 GMT)

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