Nothing helps the performance of Penguin and its parent company Pearson like a weak British pound, particularly since they get 60 percent of their sales from the US. For fiscal 2009 that benefit is stark, particularly for Penguin, where currency exchange made up for flat sales and declining margins. Sales at Penguin were 1.002 billion pounds, an 11 percent increase over last year’s 903 million pounds, though the gains and then some were entirely due to currency. The company admits that foreign exchange contributed 109 million pounds; on a constant-exchange-rate basis sales fell 1 percent, and “underlying” sales were down […]
