City File: Quality suffers

PEARSON GROUP'S shares may take another knock this Friday, when it announces interim figures. Half-time profits are unlikely to be more than pounds 30m compared with pounds 40m last year. Pearson makes most of its profit in the second half of the year, but it is unlikely to top last year's full-year profits. As a result, the dividend will probably be maintained.

Despite high quality assets, most of Pearson's businesses - from fine China to newspapers - are suffering badly from recession. More than 50 per cent of profits are in dollars, and the dollar is likely to remain weak until the end of the year.