Marjorie Scardino, chief executive of Pearson, has sent an ebullient letter to staff after posting first half results that showed sales up 14% - to almost $4bn - and operating profit up 38% to $247m (£124m). At the Financial Times Group, sales rose by 11% and profits were up 21% to $167m (£84m). Scardino positively bubbles over the figures:
Anyone who reads a newspaper (even if it's not the FT) knows there have been economic storm clouds gathering for a while. There are many signs: the international credit crunch, turmoil in financial markets, rising oil and food prices, falling house prices and consumer confidence... But today, in our own small way, we're hoping to touch off a very tiny spark of light in the gloom.
But she warns: "Keep the corks in the champagne. Don't forget: the real business of this year is still ahead of us. Last year we made about 60% of our sales and 85% of our profits in the second half. And this year we may well have to do some powerful swimming against strong economic currents to get to the finish line."
Writing about the FT newspaper specifically (where profits, I understand, rose by 5% and revenues were up 9%), she talks of its many awards and claims it to have "led the world's media on the biggest financial story of the year - the global credit crunch and its consequences."
She refers also to FT.com, arguing that it has "taken a lead on its competitors through ideas like its Alphaville blog, which has built a vibrant community of stock market traders and commentators" while "Mergermarket has continued to create new services like its global dealReporter service".
Well, a chief executive would say all that wouldn't she? But Scardino has a right to boast with figures like these in such tough times for the media. Clearly, there's money to be made from reporting economic plight.
She deserves her champagne moment after those years in which so-called sages were advising that the only way to save Pearson was to sell off the FT. Now both are in the pink.
