North America boss offloads Pearson shares

2nd Mar 2011 17:47

Will Ethridge, chief executive of Financial Times publisher Pearson's North American education division, has sold a big chunk of shares in the company.He disposed of 33,000 American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) for $16.83 (£1,033p) a time or a total of nearly £350,000.News of the share sale comes after the day after it emerged that Pearson has frozen Libya's stake in the company, which is bigger than first thought.Pearson said in June that the Libyan Investment Authority (LIA) had acquired 24,431,000 shares in the company. Chief executive Marjorie Scardino said she was "uncomfortable" about 3% of the company being owned by the Libyans.However, Pearson revealed that it "has reasonable cause to believe that the LIA may have acquired an additional 2,141,179 shares resulting in a total interest in 26,572,179 shares." This means the LIA has a 3.27% stake in the company.Earlier in the week Pearson revealed that it had made an adjusted operating profit of £857m in 2010, up 15% on the year before, as the education business grew 13% to £691m, Penguin added 10% to £106m and the FT Group rose 54% to £60m.Ethridge joined Pearson in 1988 after the acquisition of the publisher Simon & Schuster.Top Director BuysGeneral Electric Co (GEC) Director name: Mr Jeffrey R ImmeltAmount purchased: 40,000 @ € 15.31 Value: € 612,592Avanti Communications Group (AVN) Director name: Mr Nigel Adrian Dawson FoxAmount purchased: 9,780 @ 506.00p Value: £49,487Craneware (CRW) Director name: Mr Keith NeilsonAmount purchased: 3,525 @ 564.75p Value: £19,907Centaur Media (CAU) Director name: Mr Geoff WilmotAmount purchased: 25,000 @ 67.00p Value: £16,750Anglo Pacific Group (APF) Director name: Mr Matthew TackAmount purchased: 4,000 @ 324.70p Value: £12,988Syndicate Asset Management (SAM) Director name: Mr Peter DewAmount purchased: 800,000 @ 1.58p Value: £12,640Top Director SellsLancashire Holdings (LRE) Director name: Mr Robert Alan SpassAmount sold: 75,052 @ 590.64p Value: £443,287Pearson (PSON) Director name: Mr Will EthridgeAmount sold: 33,000 @ 1,034.69p Value: £341,448Bunzl (BNZL) Director name: Mr Brian MayAmount sold: 21,987 @ 745.23p Value: £163,854Bunzl (BNZL) Director name: Mr Michael J RoneyAmount sold: 20,366 @ 745.23p Value: £151,774Bunzl (BNZL) Director name: Mr Patrick LarmonAmount sold: 18,272 @ 745.23p Value: £136,168Dechra Pharmaceuticals (DPH) Director name: Mr Ian PageAmount sold: 19,426 @ 507.75p Value: £98,636Dechra Pharmaceuticals (DPH) Director name: Mr Edwin TorrAmount sold: 10,361 @ 507.75p Value: £52,608Bunzl (BNZL) Director name: Mr Paul Nicholas HusseyAmount sold: 4,737 @ 745.23p Value: £35,302