Pearson to sell SA courseware publishing business for £53m

Educational publisher Pearson said on Friday that it has agreed to sell 75% of its South African courseware publishing business to Novus Holdings for £53m.

Novus is a specialised printing and packaging manufacturing group which services customers across sub-Saharan Africa through a range of products and solutions.

Pearson said the SA courseware businesses had gross assets of £15m and net assets of £5m as at 30 June. In 2021, they generated £44.4m of revenue and £10.3m of adjusted operating profit.

The company had announced last year that it was carrying out a strategic review of its international courseware local publishing businesses and on Friday it said this sale concludes the review.