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The publisher Pearson expects profits to increase in 2010 after solid growth in its education business last year. Shares in the group that publishes the Financial Times rose by almost 5 per cent to an eight-year high after it reported better-than-expected full-year results.

Pre-tax profits were £660 million, up by 13 per cent in headline terms, on revenues up 4 per cent to £5.62 billion at constant exchange rates.

However, falling advertising revenues hit the group’s FT Publishing division, which includes the Financial Times and FT.com.

Underlying profits there fell 42 per cent from £74 million to £39 million as sales declined by 12 per cent to £358 million.

Advertising accounts for 19 per cent of revenue at the FT Group, which includes the newspaper division and Pearson’s 61 per cent stake in Interactive Data Company (IDC), which provides financial information for American investment funds.

Chief executive Dame Marjorie Scardino said that she was “very proud” of the performance of the Financial Times, However, she does not expect to see FT advertising coming storming back in 2010 because “it’s a very, very difficult market to predict — very volatile and with not much visibility for how that will go this year.”

Pearson has refocused its portfolio on its education division at the expense of more cyclical and advertisingdependent media. Advertising makes up only 3 per cent of its total revenues.

Education, based mainly in North America, makes up about two thirds of Pearson’s revenue. Buoyed by increased investment and a focus on self-teaching computer technology, underlying profits at that division rose by 13 per cent to £587 million.

Pearson said that its education business had gained global market share and announced a 5 per cent increase in dividend to 35.5p.

The group offered no update on the possible disposal of its majority stake in IDC, worth almost $1.8 billion (£1.2 billion). Interested buyers are thought to include the private equity groups Permira, Carlyle, Advent and Bain Capital.

Analysts believe that Pearson is most likely to use any proceeds for further acquisitions in electronic learning in emerging markets, an area central to its long-term growth prospects.

Asked whether an IDC sale would leave FT Publishing vulnerable to being sold, Dame Marjorie said: “I wouldn’t answer that question even if I wanted to.”

But she added: “The FT is a pretty integral part of Pearson. It’s an amazing brand.”

The British group, which also owns Penguin Books, said tough markets in US school publishing, financial advertising and consumer books had begun to ease towards the end of last year, but it expected little help from the economy in the near term.

Penguin, Pearson’s book publishing arm, saw a 19 per cent fall in underlying operating profit to £84 million on sales of £1 billion. E-book sales in 2009 grew fourfold on the previous year, the company said.