Publishing company Pearson said today its annual pretax profits declined 6 per cent because of a difficult holiday season for its Penguin consumer book unit and the weak dollar.
London-based Pearson - which publishes school textbooks, newspapers and bestsellers - said pretax profits were £386 million (€559 million).
Sales were down 3.2 per cent to £3.92 million( €5.7 million).
Pearson is expecting a strong year from its schools business and is confident the company's overall performance will be within market expectations even as it tackles some of the problems at Penguin.