Pearson “has decided it is prudent” to pause the rest of their planned £350 million share buyback, the company announced March 23. That repurchase program, under which they have already spent £167 million, was initiated in January as part of a plan to reinvest some of the expected proceeds from selling their remaining stake in Penguin Random House to Bertelsmann. (The sale is expected to close in the second quarter of 2020). Pearson estimated that the temporary closing of their Pearson VUE test centres will reduce operating profit by approximately £25 million to £35 million, and cancellations of state tests […]
