This is just a short note on Pearson’s annual report for 2011.
In the North American education market saw a 2% decline but an increase in market share to 37% and a growth in operating profit to £469m. Interestingly, digital learning platform registrations rose by 23% to 43 m users. This appears to be mainly driven by increased institutional investment in digital learning at the enterprise level (securing institutional lock-in) and implementations at scale.
In the field of professional learning, the report notes the UK
government funding pressures and policy change relating to apprenticeships are creating a tough trading environment …
Which resulted in their withdrawal from the apprenticeship market. However, in professional learning, Pearson saw underlying sales growth of 2% and operating profit underlying growth of 10% so they must be doing something right here. Their performance appears to be driven by professional/ technical certification.