Pearson says Financial Times faces a “weak” advertising market
Parent company Pearson has said that the Financial Times is facing a "weak" advertising market in the first quarter this year.
Pearson said it is a result of a number of large advertising campaigns being planned for the second quarter compared to last year, when they ran in the first quarter.
However, the FT digital subscriptions have managed to grow 4 per cent year-on-year to 328,000.
Pearson added that despite the weak trading conditions, the FT was "benefiting from resilient demand for content and services".
As the group's revenues fell 1 per cent year on year to £1.2bn in the first quarter, Pearson said it expects its operating profits in the first six months to be down on the same period last year, as the market conditions for its education operation also remained weak in developed markets,
However, the company noted that profits are "heavily weighted" to the second half of the year.
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