Pearson: H1 slightly ahead on the phasing of investment, FY guidance broadly unchanged – remain Neutral

Research evidence excerpt

Pearson: H1 slightly ahead on the phasing of investment, FY guidance broadly unchanged – remain Neutral

C A Z E N O V E Europe Equity Research

31 July 2026

Pearson Neutral

PSON.L, PSON LN

H1 slightly ahead on the phasing of investment, FY Price (30 Jul 26):1,293p

guidance broadly unchanged – remain Neutral Price Target (Dec-27):1,420p

H1 underlying revenue growth of 4% was in line with expectations, while EBITA European Media

ACwas 4% ahead of our forecast, driven by the phasing of investment. PSON has Daniel Kerven

trimmed guidance for English Language Learning for the FY to reflect difficult (44-20) 7134-3057

market conditions for PTE, but continues to expect an acceleration in group growth daniel.kerven@jpmorgan.com

in H2 and mid-single-digit growth for the FY. It continues to expect margin Mathilde Jorgensen

improvement and £640m-685m (£:$1.35) of operating profit. PSON also (44-20) 3493-4360

announced that it will support Anthropic’s global skills programme, with Pearson mathilde.jorgensen@jpmorgan.com

J.P. Morgan Securities plc

Professional Assessments providing the testing for the Claude certification

programme, which will then be recognised through Credly with digital badges. It Specialist Sales contact details:

will make a small contribution in the near term but should build over time. Virtual

Scott Silver - Specialist Sales -

schools H2 and 2027 / 2028 growth should be supported by the launch of five new European TMT

schools. There will likely be small changes to the mix, but we would expect to leave (44-20) 7134-0412

our FY forecasts broadly unchanged. Pearson trades on 17.8x 2026E earnings for scott.silver@jpmorgan.com

mid-single-digit revenue growth, 7-8% operating profit growth and double-digit Recent notes: