Fears over future hit Pearson's share price as it warns over core education markets

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Shares in Pearson fell yet again yesterday as worries over its future deepened.

The education group’s shares have lost some £2.4billion, a quarter of its value, in the last week after it warned about its core education markets.

Conditions in schools and universities across the US had ‘yet to improve’, it said earlier in the week.

Warnings: Pearson also warned profits would be lower than expected because it had sold the Financial Times and its 50 per cent stake in the Economist

The group had previously forecast that the markets, which have struggled in the last two years, would begin to pick up.

It also warned profits would be lower than expected because it had sold the Financial Times and its 50 per cent stake in the Economist.

At the time, analyst Ian Whittaker at Liberum said that ‘several profit warnings over the past few years’ had yet to take their full toll on the shares.

Shares yesterday slid another 5 per cent, taking the total losses to £2.4billion since Tuesday. But chief executive John Fallon said he did not regret the selling the publications, arguing that the firm should focus entirely on the education market.