Pearson (PSON)

Academic publishing firm Pearson (PSON) saw its share p[rice plunge 10.6% to 553p after its latest update revealed ongoing problems in its US higher education business. A £350m share buyback linked to the sale of its stake in publisher Penguin Random House has done little to appease the market. While trading is roughly in line with the downgraded guidance given in September, with 2019 ...

The FTSE 100 confounded expectations by opening lower this morning, despite the US and China signing off on the first phase of their trade deal. US stocks rallied last night following the signing with the S&P 500 and Dow Jones hitting all-time highs, but UK stocks evidently haven’t followed suit. Perhaps the market is more concerned about what’s not in the trade deal rather than what ...

Although the UK’s stock market underperformed those of Eastern Europe, the US and Western Europe in 2019, in sterling, total-return terms, few investors are likely to sniff at a total return of 19.2% from the FTSE 350 index. The FTSE 250 outpaced the FTSE 100 with a total return of 28.9% against 17.3%. Better still, the headline indices were relatively calm, especially compared to the wild ...

Publisher Pearson (PSON) gains 2.9% to 662.4p as it announces the retirement of chief executive officer (CEO) John Fallon and the sale of its interest in Penguin Random House. The company has agreed to sell its remaining 25% stake in book publisher Penguin Random House to partner Bertelsmann for around $675m (£530m). Proceeds would be used to fund a £350m share buyback in early 2020, with ...

The FTSE 100 was up 0.2% to 7,542.81 with sterling remaining under pressure on the revelation the new Conservative government plans to legislate against an extension to the Brexit transition period. Education group Pearson (PSON) gained 3% to 663p on news that it had agreed to sell its remaining 25% stake in book publisher Penguin Random House to partner Bertelsmann for around $675m ...

The basic principle of value investing is buying stocks on low valuations and waiting for them to re-rate. Warren Buffett calls it buying a dollar of earnings for 50 cents, or in the case of UK stocks buying £1 of assets for 50p. In theory this makes a lot of sense; in practice, it’s far from simple and in today’s market not a lot of stocks sell for 50p on the pound. Value investing has ...

We often hear that the number one rule of investing is diversify, diversify, diversify. And on the face of it, so-called ‘concentrated funds’ – investment funds that typically hold no more than 50 stocks – would seem to fly in the face of this strategy. Indeed modern portfolio theory, one of the first things professional investors learn before they enter the industry, dictates that ...

Education business Pearson (PSON) plunged more than 18% on Thursday after cutting profit guidance in a third quarter trading update. The share price’s slump takes the stock down to 702.8p, an 18-month low and puts Pearson right at the top of today’s FTSE 100 loser board. Pearson said that weaker than expected trading in its US higher education courseware business would mean that it ...

London’s FTSE 100 rose 30.4 points to 7,320.4 on Thursday thanks to strength in utilities, oil producers, miners and insurers. The most heavily-traded stock by volume was British Airways owner International Consolidated Airlines (IAG), which saw its shares fall 3.9% to 461.5p after downgrading earnings guidance. Imperial Brands (IMB) wafted 9.8% lower to £18.63 on a full year profit ...

Cautious investors concerned about future stock market corrections might consider seeking shelter in a portfolio of domestic stocks that are already dirt cheap and primed for recovery. Fidelity Special Values (FSV) pursues such an approach. Managed by Alex Wright, this fund should provide a margin of safety, as it aims to buy shares for less than their intrinsic worth, and also offers a ...

Investors who prefer to entrust capital allocation decisions to a professional money manager as opposed to buying individual stocks are exceptionally well served by the FTSE 350. Within its ranks, you’ll find a highly-diverse batch of investment trusts spanning all the key asset classes. Shares’ number-crunching reveals a grand total of 57 investment trusts within the FTSE 350 – that is ...

Shares in the world’s number one educational publisher Pearson (PSON) gained 7% to a new three-month high of 939p after the company reported strong growth in first-half operating profits and raised its full year earnings per share (EPS) guidance. Operating profits grew by 32% on an underlying basis in the first half, therefore the firm has raised its full year adjusted EPS guidance to between ...

Despite a drag from miners, London’s FTSE 100 recovered by 10.9 points to trade at 7,500 on Friday with the FTSE 250 up 41.6 points to 19,862, as Vodafone (VOD) jumped on plans to create a separate European tower company and education firm Pearson (PSON) perked up on a positive trading missive. Mobile giant Vodafone rose 7.4% to 142p on news it will legally separate its towers business into ...

The FTSE 100 starts Friday in a subdued state amid mixed corporate news and ahead of the release of US GDP data later. In early trading the index is down 23.68 points at 7,410.45. Lender Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) slumps 4.5% as it books a fall in first-quarter profit and delivers a soft warning on its annual guidance, a day after announcing chief executive Ross McEwan was leaving. Food ...

Having enjoyed a strong finish on Thursday amid a big slide in sterling, the FTSE 100 softens 54.3 points to 7,301 on Friday as news that the immediate cliff edge for Brexit is being postponed drives a recovery rally in the currency. This is hurting companies deriving a significant chunk of their sales in dollars such as Unilever (ULVR) and British American Tobacco (BATS). Pharmaceuticals ...

Shares in academic publisher Pearson (PSON) are down 1.2% to 872.8p in mid-morning, reversing earlier gains of more than 3%, as investors digest 2018 results. Today’s share price action replicates in microcosm what has happened to the stock of late. The company was one of the top FTSE 100 performers in 2018 as investors looked to a recovery in its fortunes after structural challenges had led ...

Investors have a couple of interesting takeovers to concentrate on in early trade on Friday as lender Provident Financial (PFG) and Cathedral City cheese maker Dairy Crest (DCG) recommend bids to shareholders. Provident, the £1.3bn business behind Vanquis credit cards, accepts a £1.3bn offer tabled subprime lending peer Non-Standard Finance (NSF). Interestingly, NSF was founded in 2014 by ...

The dip in academic publisher Pearson’s (PSON) share price despite news of the divestment of its structurally-challenged K12 US school textbook business could reflect the fact the deal does not represent the clean break the market is looking for. Pearson shares fall 0.7% to 913.8p as the $250m sale of K12 to Nexus Capital Management involves just $25m up front with the remainder being paid ...

The FTSE 100 starts the week on the back foot although it is still holding on to a position north of 7,200, down 0.37% at 7,210.16 in early trading. An uptick in the pound contributing to the weaker open. Consumer goods giant Reckitt Benckiser (RB.) reports a 65% drop in annual profit owing to one-off gains and expenses but underlying earnings are up as the company hit the top end of its sales ...

Price comparison is a competitive space, so it is little wonder that today’s results from Moneysupermarket.com (MONY) are being received so positively by the market. The shares are marked 5.5% higher to 329.7p as the company reports growth in revenue, earnings and the dividend. Drilling down a bit further the company’s two biggest verticals (or sectors) Insurance and Money, which ...