: Pearson Education :

: profile :

In a world shaped by an increasingly knowledge-based economy, there is a ravenous appetite for education in both the developed and developing worlds. Governments, corporations, and individuals see education as the path to self-determination and prosperity and they are willing to invest more than ever in it. As the world’s leading education company, we work with authors and educators to play our role in educating all ages in all parts of the world.

We are the leading US school* (kindergarten to 12th grade) publisher, with a comprehensive range of textbooks, supplementary, and electronic education programmes. Our premier elementary (www.scottforesman.com) and secondary imprints (www.phschool.com) publish some of the very best school programmes covering subjects such as reading, literature, math, science and social studies. We are a leading publisher of online assessment and digital courseware through the Computer Curriculum Corporation (www.ccclearn.com), the Waterford Early Reading Programme and the KnowZone (www.kz.com). We also publish supplementary teaching aids for both elementary (www.pearsonlearning.com) and secondary schools (www.globefearon.com) and teacher-written activity books (www.phdirect.com).

We are by far the leading higher education publisher in the US, with imprints such as Addison Wesley Longman (www.awl.com), Allyn & Bacon (www.abacon.com) and Prentice Hall (www.prenhall.com). Over 1,000 of our college textbooks have an interactive companion website (such as www.abacon.com/albanese) with online study guides designed to reinforce text concepts, and chat rooms and bulletin boards to facilitate interaction and communication between students and faculty. An increasing number of our programmes are delivered through online course management systems that provide a powerful set of easy-to-use tools that allow professors to create sophisticated web-based courses (such as webct.prenhall.com/audesirk/topics/animation/an–lib.html).

* In the US, 20 states, which account for over 50% of the total US school population of some 52 million, buy educational programmes by means of a periodic statewide ‘adoption’. These cover new programmes in core subject areas. A state committee selects a short-list of education programmes, from which the school districts then choose. In the ‘open territories’ – the 30 states without adoptions – local school districts choose education programmes themselves.

Our professional and technology group publishes over 1,000 computer and technology titles a year (our imprints include Macmillan USA, Que, Sams, Prentice Hall, Cisco Press, Adobe Press, New Riders, Peachpit and Addison Wesley) complemented by an online presence (www.informit.com), which aims to be the leading vertical portal for accomplished and aspiring IT professionals.

More people learn English as a second language with our programmes (www.longman-elt.com) than those of any other publisher. We are also a leading publisher of indigenous works in the school, university and professional markets in countries all over the world.

FT Knowledge (www.ftknowledge.com) is one of the world’s leading providers of business education and management development. We specialise in providing learning and development that is highly relevant to the needs of businesses and the people that work within them.

: performance :

Pearson Education, formed in November 1998 through the acquisition of the Simon & Schuster education business and its merger with Addison Wesley Longman (AWL), performed very strongly in its first full year of operation. Sales increased to £1.72bn, an underlying increase of 9.4% on pro forma sales in 1998.

Our US school business had an excellent year, increasing pro forma sales by some 9% to £586m.Our bestselling math and social studies programmes led the way. They gained substantial market share, creating a platform which will help to drive strong backlist sales in future years. While we were marketing and selling these programmes, we were also working hard in finalising the new reading, literature and science programmes that will secure our future growth.

Nor did our US higher education and professional publishing business miss a beat. With a 12% increase in sales, our college publishing operations outperformed the competition and strengthened their market leading position. We stepped up the development of text/web and online course management programmes that create more interactive learning, enabling us to build closer relations with professors and students. We also invested more in the new signings and successful first editions that will keep us ahead of the pack. Our professional and technology publishing group achieved similar growth, buoyed by a strong publishing programme and surging interest in technology and e-commerce issues.

Our International business increased sales by 5% to £446m. We moved swiftly to transform the extensive international networks of both AWL and Simon & Schuster into a single cohesive force, building up our local publishing presence and strengthening our distribution and marketing networks. In print and online, we continued to expand our leading English language teaching business as the number of people around the world who want to learn English grows rapidly by the day. In the latter part of the year, we capitalised on the first signs of sustained economic recovery in emerging Asian and Latin American markets.

FT Knowledge made losses of £8m as it invested rapidly in expanding its scale and scope to capitalise on the explosive growth of online learning and the burgeoning demand for business qualifications. We are working with the University of Michigan Business School, one of the leading providers of executive education in America, to offer online executive management courses. We have set up a joint venture with Regents’ College, a leading US ‘virtual university’, to accredit a wide range of FT Knowledge business and computing programmes. And we are working with The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania University, one of the most prestigious business schools in the world, to offer programmes in eBusiness which will be delivered and supported online.

Across Pearson Education as a whole, we are in good shape to deliver the planned $130m of annual integration savings by the end of 2000. We are also keeping our eye firmly on the main goal of meeting the very high pedagogical standards that our customers – teachers and students, pupils and their parents, education boards and college faculties – expect of the world’s leading education company.