Pearson (parent company of Penguin and the world’s largest educational publisher) published a report from its Annual General Meeting and the results are rather rosy. The company, Reuters reports, said it was trading in line with expectations and that it expects its higher education business sales to grow 3-5 percent with stable margins, and added its schools business was expected to achieve underlying sales growth in the 4-6 percent range with margins improving.

The company also said its professional revenues were expected to be broadly level amid improving margins while Penguin’s margins were continuing to improve. In the Financial Times Group, full-year margins were expected to push into double digits.

Marjorie Scardino, chief executive, said: “We’ve achieved strong growth with a consistent strategy: leading content, services and technology to make it more valuable, international expansion and ongoing efficiency measures. Those advantages, and our solid start to the year, make us confident that 2007 will be another good year for Pearson.”