Pearson's education group reported a sales increase of 25% to $1.16 billion in 1998. The gain includes about $200 million in revenues from the Simon &Schuster properties which Pearson took control of on November 27. Excluding sales from S&S, revenues in the group rose 3% to $966 million. Total operating profit in the year increased 65% to $164 million, a figure that includes profits of $36.5 million from the former S&S divisions.
Pearson said AWL had a good year in the U.S., with gains in the education markets. Outside the U.S., Pearson observed, "the international business as a whole had to work hard just to mitigate the impact of lower growth rates in Asia and Latin America." On the positive side, the U.K. division had a strong performance and the school publishing business gained market share in Hong Kong.
The combination of Pearson's education and Penguin's consumer publishing businesses had total sales of slightly more than $2 billion in 1998 and posted an operating profit of $244 million.
