British media group Pearson dipped into loss in the first six months of the year, hit by a sharp decline in advertising revenue at its business newspapers, including the flagship Financial Times.
The company reported a better than expected underlying loss of £1m for the first half of 2003, against a loss of £26m in the same period of 2002.
On a statutory basis, pre-tax losses narrowed to £138m in the period from £188m a year earlier.
But despite the weak start to the year, Pearson said it was confident of a strong second half, when it usually makes most of its sales and all of its profits.
In the first half sales fell by 8% to £1.665 billion, a drop of 3% on an underlying basis, the company said.
Sales were affected by tough trading conditions for Pearson's business newspapers and technology-related operations, as well as a shift of business into the second half of the year at its education and consumer publishing operations.
