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Educational publisher Pearson posted a higher first-half operating profit after pressure on revenue from the Covid-19 crisis was offset by a gain on the sale of its interest in book group Penguin Random House.
Pre-tax profit for the six months through June rose to £35m, up from £13m on-year, even as revenue dropped 18% to £1.49m.
Adjusted operating losses amounted to £23m, compared to a profit of £144m, with a profit impact of around £140m from Covid-19 trading pressures after cost mitigations.
Pearson held its interim dividend steady at 6p per share and said it had available liquidity of around£1.6bn at the end of June.
The slump in sales largely reflected test centre and school closures during lockdowns, though Pearson said it had seen improving trends in June following a deterioration from March to May.
Pearson said it remained difficult to predict the ultimate disruptive impact of the pandemic on its performance for the full year.
Still, it said it performed as expected in the second quarter.
'While risks remain, particularly around enrolments in the back to school period and local lockdowns impacting schools reopenings, based on our current assessment of these trends we are on track to deliver adjusted operating profit broadly consistent with market expectations,' the company said.