Leading learning company, Pearson, recently partnered with investment fund Rethink Education to lead an $8.5m investment in Voxy, an English language learning platform with 2.5 million users. The global giant is pro-actively repositioning itself to be embedded in digital delivery and following solid half-year results, bullish about the prospect for growth in the education sector.
The company plans to incorporate Voxy’s products and technology into its suite of services it offers to learners as it continues to transition away from traditional print into digital learning.
The investment comes as the company releases its interim results up to 30 June which show like-for-like revenue was up 1%, driven mostly by the company’s North American Education business and movement in developing markets.
John Fallon, chief executive, said in a statement: “In trading terms, 2013 has begun much as we expected. In general, good growth in our digital, services and developing-market businesses continues to offset tough conditions for traditional publishing.”
“We believe that education is one of the major growth industries for the next decade and beyond”
North American Education delivered an operating profit of £13m for the first half year on a 5% revenue increase to £1,102m. Meanwhile the company’s International Education business, which covers all operations outside of North America, delivered a 2% increase in revenue to £736m, up from the first half of 2012’s £724m.
The company’s English language chain, Wall Street English opened a new centre in Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam bringing the total number of locations up to 457 in 28 countries. Already existing English Language Learning digital products performed well with registered users growing 115% to 332,000 for both its MyEnglishLabs and Our Discovery Island programmes.
Operations in Latin America, Asia, the Middle East and Sub-Saharan Africa continued to grow led by a 15% increase in English language learning in China, a 14% increase in India and a 25% revenue increase in its South Africa higher education business, CTI.
With 50% of revenues coming from digital and services, the company says it is “reshaping the organisation to take advantage of a once-in-a-generation opportunity, to lead Pearson into its next phase of growth”.
In July it announced a restructuring of its education operations into three global lines of business – School, Higher Education and Professional – and three geographic market categories – North America, Growth and Core from January 2014.
“We have done this because we believe that education is one of the major growth industries for the next decade and beyond, serving a huge rise in the global middle class,” a spokesman told The PIE News.
“To meet the educational needs of this new middle class, we need to develop more global products and services, and then market them locally, taking into account local systems and sensitivities.
“All of this is only possible through a sustained and smart investment in technology and digital learning platforms.”
Business continued to grow in the first half of the year in Latin America, Asia, the Middle East and Sub-Saharan Africa led by a 15% increase in English language learning in China
It plans to free up resources from its text book publishing businesses to focus on investing in a small group of global technology platforms and brands that can be adapted for local use.
According to Bhavneet Singh, President of Pearson English and Informal Learning, becoming a minor shareholder in Voxy is “another important step in Pearson’s drive to offer learners more direct, digital learning tools”.
Voxy’s integrated web and mobile learning platform is modelled on an interest-driven learning approach that uses gaming mechanics to help users to learn English by generating personalised lessons from real world content and social media.
The company plans to build on Voxy’s strong presence in Spanish and Portuguese markets and take the product to Asia.
