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Pearson’s new boss writes down £120m
THE NEW boss of Financial Times publisher Pearson announced a £120m writedown yesterday, as he said the publisher would close its UK adult educational unit.
John Fallon, who took over from long-time chief executive Marjorie Scardino at the start of the year, said he was closing Pearson in Practice, which provides vocational classroom training, due to changes in public subsidies.
The government now only funds such training when students have an apprenticeship lined up, making Pearson in Practice’s business model unsustainable.
Pearson will now try to sell off some of the business, although this is unlikely to make much of a dent in the £120m write-off, which will be included in this quarter’s accounts.