PEARSON PLC financial statements

Income statement, balance sheet and cash flow statement for the last 10 fiscal years, taken from the XBRL data PEARSON PLC files with the SEC in its annual reports.

In GBP millions, except per-share amounts. Outflows in the cash flow statement are negative.

Income statement

	FY2017	FY2017	FY2018	FY2019	FY2020	FY2021	FY2022	FY2023	FY2024	FY2025
Revenue	4,552	4,513	4,129	3,869	3,397	3,428	3,841	3,674	3,552	3,577
Cost of revenue	2,093	2,066	1,943	1,858	1,767	1,747	2,046	1,839	1,741	1,717
Gross profit	2,459	2,447	2,186	2,011	1,630	1,681	1,795	1,835	1,811	1,860
Research and development	23	14	14	13	11	12	10	8	6	8
General and administrative	6	10	6	6	5	6	7	8	8	9
Operating income	-2,497	451	553	275	411	183	271	498	541	507
Interest expense	97	110	91	84	107	68	71	81	112	98
Interest income	37	80	36	41	76	62	123	76	81	48
Pre-tax income	-2,557	421	498	232	380	177	323	493	510	457
Income tax	-222	13	-92	-34	50	-1	79	113	75	121
Income from continuing operations	-2,335	408	590	266	330	178	244	380	435	336
Net income to minority interests	2	2	2	2	0	1	2	2	1	1
Net income	-2,337	406	588	264	330	177	242	378	434	335
EPS, basic	-3.06	0.53	0.81	0.36	0.44	0.24	0.33	0.53	0.65	0.51
EPS, diluted	-3.06	0.53	0.80	0.36	0.44	0.23	0.33	0.53	0.64	0.51

Balance sheet

	FY2017	FY2017	FY2018	FY2019	FY2020	FY2021	FY2022	FY2023	FY2024	FY2025
Cash and equivalents	1,459	518	568	437	1,097	937	558	312	543	333
Receivables	1,357	1,110	1,178	1,275	1,118	1,257	1,139	1,050	1,030	1,082
Inventory	235	148	164	169	129	98	105	91	74	66
Total current assets	4,085	2,525
Property, plant and equipment	343	281	661	618	515	366	250	217	216	210
Lease right-of-use assets				409
Goodwill	2,341	2,030	2,111	2,139	2,094	2,145	2,480	2,434	2,437	2,425
Total assets	10,066	7,888	7,905	7,650	7,451	7,343	7,324	6,727	6,892	6,458
Accounts payable	1,629	1,342	1,400	1,278	1,196	1,256	1,254	1,275	1,054	1,043
Short-term debt	44	19	46	92	254	155	86	67	315	62
Total current liabilities	1,924	1,617
Lease liabilities				749	610	565	534	483	452	416
Total liabilities	5,718	3,867	3,380	3,327	3,317	3,063	2,909	2,739	2,839	2,795
Total debt	2,468	1,085	720	1,664	1,651	1,400	1,230	1,161	1,472	1,481
Paid-in capital	2,597	2,602	2,607	2,614	2,620	2,626	2,633	2,642	2,649	2,658
Retained earnings	716	662	1,039	911	865	1,067	881	745	827	629
Shareholders' equity	4,344	4,013	4,516	4,313	4,125	4,270	4,402	3,974	4,038	3,648
Minority interests	4	8	9	10	9	10	13	14	15	15
Total equity	4,348	3,903	4,525	4,323	4,134	4,280	4,415	3,988	4,053	3,663
Total liabilities and equity	10,066	7,770	7,905	7,650	7,451	7,343	7,324	6,727	6,892	6,458

Cash flow statement

	FY2017	FY2017	FY2018	FY2019	FY2020	FY2021	FY2022	FY2023	FY2024	FY2025
Net income	-2,335	408	590	266	330	178	244	380	435	336
Cash from operations	410	298	462	369	389	326	361	525	627	656
Capital expenditures	-88	-82	-70	-55	-53	-64
Cash from investing	-41	651	211	-325	591	-80	13	-301	-131	-243
Debt issued	4	2		230	346		0	285	1,265	1,017
Debt repaid	-249	-1,294	-441	-48	-230	-167	-171	-285	-921	-974
Share buybacks	-27			-52	-6
Dividends paid	-424	-318	-137	-148	-147	-149	-157	-155	-156	-160
Cash from financing	-697	-1,759	-729	-102	-299	-414	-804	-450	-241	-609
Exchange rate effect	81	16	-49	-33	-2	-8	36	-8	-21	-14
Net change in cash	-247	-794	-105	-91	679	-176	-394	-234	234	-210
Free cash flow	322	216	392	314	336	262
Interest paid	67	89	42	81	63	67	57	60	65	73
Income taxes paid	45	75	43	30	-2	177	109	97	119	2

Key metrics

Worked out from the statements above. Latest values use fiscal 2025. No valuation: the share price is quoted in a different currency than the statements.

Profitability

Metric	Value	How it is calculated
Gross margin	52.0%	Gross profit / revenue.
Operating margin	14.2%	Operating income / revenue.
Pre-tax margin	12.8%	Pre-tax income / revenue.
Net margin	9.4%	Net income / revenue.
Operating cash flow margin	18.3%	Cash from operations / revenue.
Effective tax rate	26.5%	Income tax / pre-tax income, when pre-tax income is positive.
Return on equity (ROE)	8.7%	Net income / average shareholders' equity (opening and closing). Not shown when equity is negative.
Return on assets (ROA)	5.0%	Net income / average total assets.
Return on invested capital (ROIC)	7.6%	Approximation: operating income x (1 - tax rate) / average (total debt + equity - cash). Tax rate is the effective rate when between 0% and 50%, else 21%.
R&D / revenue	0.2%	Research and development expense / revenue.

Growth

Metric	Value	How it is calculated
Revenue growth, 1y	0.7%	Revenue vs the same period a year earlier. Only from a positive base.
Revenue CAGR, 3y	-2.3%	Compound annual growth of revenue over 3 fiscal years: (end / start)^(1/3) - 1. Only when both values are positive.
Revenue CAGR, 5y	1.0%	Compound annual growth of revenue over 5 fiscal years: (end / start)^(1/5) - 1. Only when both values are positive.
Gross profit growth, 1y	2.7%	Gross profit vs the same period a year earlier. Only from a positive base.
Gross profit CAGR, 3y	1.2%	Compound annual growth of gross profit over 3 fiscal years: (end / start)^(1/3) - 1. Only when both values are positive.
Gross profit CAGR, 5y	2.7%	Compound annual growth of gross profit over 5 fiscal years: (end / start)^(1/5) - 1. Only when both values are positive.
Operating income growth, 1y	-6.3%	Operating income vs the same period a year earlier. Only from a positive base.
Operating income CAGR, 3y	23.2%	Compound annual growth of operating income over 3 fiscal years: (end / start)^(1/3) - 1. Only when both values are positive.
Operating income CAGR, 5y	4.3%	Compound annual growth of operating income over 5 fiscal years: (end / start)^(1/5) - 1. Only when both values are positive.
Net income growth, 1y	-22.8%	Net income vs the same period a year earlier. Only from a positive base.
Net income CAGR, 3y	11.4%	Compound annual growth of net income over 3 fiscal years: (end / start)^(1/3) - 1. Only when both values are positive.
Net income CAGR, 5y	0.3%	Compound annual growth of net income over 5 fiscal years: (end / start)^(1/5) - 1. Only when both values are positive.
EPS growth, 1y	-20.2%	EPS vs the same period a year earlier. Only from a positive base.
EPS CAGR, 3y	15.9%	Compound annual growth of eps over 3 fiscal years: (end / start)^(1/3) - 1. Only when both values are positive.
EPS CAGR, 5y	3.0%	Compound annual growth of eps over 5 fiscal years: (end / start)^(1/5) - 1. Only when both values are positive.
Operating cash flow growth, 1y	4.6%	Operating cash flow vs the same period a year earlier. Only from a positive base.
Operating cash flow CAGR, 3y	22.0%	Compound annual growth of operating cash flow over 3 fiscal years: (end / start)^(1/3) - 1. Only when both values are positive.
Operating cash flow CAGR, 5y	11.0%	Compound annual growth of operating cash flow over 5 fiscal years: (end / start)^(1/5) - 1. Only when both values are positive.
Book value growth, 1y	-9.7%	Book value vs the same period a year earlier. Only from a positive base.
Book value CAGR, 3y	-6.1%	Compound annual growth of book value over 3 fiscal years: (end / start)^(1/3) - 1. Only when both values are positive.
Book value CAGR, 5y	-2.4%	Compound annual growth of book value over 5 fiscal years: (end / start)^(1/5) - 1. Only when both values are positive.
Total assets growth, 1y	-6.3%	Total assets vs the same period a year earlier. Only from a positive base.
Total assets CAGR, 3y	-4.1%	Compound annual growth of total assets over 3 fiscal years: (end / start)^(1/3) - 1. Only when both values are positive.
Total assets CAGR, 5y	-2.8%	Compound annual growth of total assets over 5 fiscal years: (end / start)^(1/5) - 1. Only when both values are positive.

Balance sheet health

Metric	Value	How it is calculated
Debt / equity	0.41x	Total debt / shareholders' equity. Not shown when equity is negative.
Debt / assets	22.9%	Total debt / total assets.
Liabilities / assets	43.3%	Total liabilities / total assets.
Net debt	£1.15B	Total debt - cash - short-term investments. Negative means more cash than debt.
Interest coverage	5.17x	Operating income / interest expense.
Goodwill and intangibles / assets	37.6%	(Goodwill + intangible assets) / total assets.
Tangible book value	£1.22B	Shareholders' equity - goodwill - intangible assets.

Efficiency

Metric	Value	How it is calculated
Asset turnover	0.54x	Revenue / average total assets.
Fixed asset turnover	16.8x	Revenue / average property, plant and equipment.
Inventory turnover	24.5x	Cost of revenue / average inventory.
Days inventory	15 days	365 x average inventory / cost of revenue.
Receivables turnover	3.39x	Revenue / average receivables.
Days sales outstanding	108 days	365 x average receivables / revenue.
Days payables	223 days	365 x average accounts payable / cost of revenue.
Cash conversion cycle	-100 days	Days inventory + days sales outstanding - days payables.

Per share

Metric	Value	How it is calculated
EPS, diluted	£0.51	Net income per diluted share, as reported (split-adjusted). Over the last twelve months: the four quarters summed, or net income / latest diluted shares when a quarter has no reported EPS.
EPS, basic	£0.51	Net income per basic share, as reported (split-adjusted).
Payout ratio	47.8%	Dividends paid / net income, when net income is positive.

What was PEARSON PLC's revenue in fiscal 2025?

PEARSON PLC reported revenue of £3.58B for fiscal 2025, 0.7% higher than the year before.

Was PEARSON PLC profitable in fiscal 2025?

Yes. Net income was £335.0M, a net margin of 9.4%.

Source: SEC EDGAR XBRL company facts. Where a company tags only year-to-date figures, quarters are worked out as differences. Where a line is not tagged it is left empty, never estimated.

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