Pearson PLC (PSO) 2025 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to Pearson's 2025 full year results. Today's session will consist of a presentation followed by a Q&A. (Operator Instructions)

各位早安，歡迎參加培生（Pearson）2025 全年業績發布。今天的會議將先進行簡報，接著是問答環節。（接線員指示）

And with that, I'll hand over to Omar.

那麼，我把時間交給 Omar。

Thank you, Alex. I've been looking forward to seeing you all. Welcome, and thank you for joining. We appreciate you being with us.

謝謝你，Alex。我一直很期待與各位見面。歡迎各位，也感謝大家參與。我們很感謝各位與會。

Let me begin with the three things I want you to take away from today's presentation. First, we continue to be very excited for the future of Pearson, thanks to mega trends driving strong secular demand for exactly what Pearson offers and because of Pearson's unique characteristics and enduring competitive strengths. Second, 2025 was another good year of financial delivery and significant strategic progress.

我先從今天簡報希望各位帶走的三個重點開始。第一，我們對培生的未來仍然非常振奮，因為推動強勁長期結構性需求的巨型趨勢，正好對應培生所提供的內容，同時也因為培生獨特的特質與長久以來的競爭優勢。第二，2025 年在財務表現與策略推進方面，都是又一個表現良好的一年。

Third, we will continue to make progress on our strategy in 2026 with a financial profile that improves further on 2025. I will outline our business progress before handing over to Sally to provide an overview of our financial results for 2025 and expectations for 2026. And then we'll move to Q&A with Aarti, Tom, Sharon, Vishaal, Anthony alongside Sally and me.

第三，2026 年我們將持續推進策略，且財務輪廓將較 2025 年進一步改善。在把時間交給 Sally 概述 2025 年財務結果與 2026 年展望之前，我會先說明我們的業務進展。接著我們將與 Aarti、Tom、Sharon、Vishaal、Anthony，以及 Sally 和我一起進行問答。

For those of you in person, we have a series of product demos focused on our most recent releases that will be available after the main presentation just out there. Let me now tell you why I'm confident for the future of Pearson and why we are positioned to succeed. Two factors provide the foundation for our confidence. The first is that mega trends will continue to drive strong secular demand for exactly what Pearson offers. We've spoken before about the ongoing demographic shifts and the advance of AI.

現場與會的各位，我們在主簡報結束後，外面將提供一系列產品展示，聚焦於我們最新發布的產品。接下來我想說明，為什麼我對培生的未來充滿信心，以及我們為何具備成功的有利位置。有兩個因素構成我們信心的基礎。第一，巨型趨勢將持續推動對培生所提供服務的強勁長期結構性需求。我們之前談過持續的人口結構變化，以及 AI 的進展。

These megatrends are already driving major demand for skilling and the validation of skills. How do I know this? Because we have valuable revenue commitments from nine of the world's leading technology and services companies for exactly these services. And these trends will continue to reconfigure whole industries, occupations and educational systems.

這些巨型趨勢已經在推動對技能培訓（skilling）與技能驗證的重大需求。我怎麼知道？因為我們已從全球九家領先的科技與服務公司，取得針對這些服務的具價值收入承諾。而這些趨勢將持續重塑整個產業、職業與教育體系。

Enterprises will need to upskill workforces at pace to keep up with rapid technology changes and institutions will need to provide alternative skilling pathways for vocational and career and technical education. Pearson as the world's lifelong learning company is perfectly positioned to benefit from this massive wave of human skilling over the next several years. Second, we will succeed due to Pearson's unique characteristics and enduring competitive strengths.

企業將需要加速提升員工技能，以跟上快速的科技變化；而教育機構則需要為職業教育與生涯及技術教育提供替代性的技能培訓途徑。作為全球終身學習公司，培生在未來數年這波龐大的人類技能提升浪潮中，具備絕佳的受益位置。第二，我們將能成功，源於培生獨特的特質與長久不衰的競爭優勢。

I feel the need to elaborate. Over 80% of Pearson's profit comes from assessments and virtual schools. These businesses are driven by human-led services where complex interconnected physical and digital workflows enable large-scale delivery in highly regulated markets. Our services must meet a very high bar for accreditation authorities and regulators, meaning that strength and operational delivery matters.

我覺得有必要進一步說明。培生超過 80% 的利潤來自測評（assessments）與虛擬學校。這些業務由以人為主導的服務所驅動，透過複雜且相互連結的實體與數位工作流程，在高度監管的市場中實現大規模交付。我們的服務必須符合認證機構與監管單位的極高標準，這意味著實力與營運交付能力至關重要。

And together, our services act as verification infrastructure for companies, industry associations, states and government agencies. Examples of workflows include physical and biometric security, supply chain with secure custody of assessments materials and incident response, statistical proof of maintaining standards alongside capacity management to enable millions of tests to be taken through our network of 20,000 secure physical facilities.

同時，我們的服務共同扮演企業、產業協會、各州與政府機構的驗證基礎設施。工作流程的例子包括：實體與生物辨識安全、具備測評材料安全保管的供應鏈與事件應變、以統計方式證明維持標準並搭配產能管理，使數百萬次測驗能透過我們由 20,000 個安全實體據點所構成的網路完成。

Even in today's AI world, some countries or customers are not ready for digital at any scale. So there will continue to be need for print-based products for the foreseeable future. That means that about 90% of Pearson's profit stream is coming from operationally complex, interconnected hybrid physical and digital services alongside print, all demanding uncompromising quality levels and trust. The remaining 10% approximately comes from -- the remaining 10% about -- of our profits come from primarily digital courseware. For example, in higher ed, here, we're deeply integrated in the critical workflows that decision-makers use to perform their roles.

即使在今天的 AI 世界中，有些國家或客戶仍未準備好在任何規模上全面數位化。因此，在可預見的未來，對紙本產品的需求仍將持續存在。這表示培生約 90% 的利潤來源，來自營運上複雜、相互連結的混合式實體與數位服務，再加上紙本產品；所有這些都要求毫不妥協的品質水準與信任。其餘約 10% 來自——其餘約 10%——的利潤主要來自數位課程教材（courseware）。例如在高等教育領域，我們深度整合進決策者用以履行其職責的關鍵工作流程之中。

These customer relationships have been nurtured over many years built on a foundation of quality, and that comes with high switching costs. We love seeing the progress that AI labs and others are making in the tools that can benefit learners. And as you know, we're embedding much of their progress directly into our offerings, but our products are not just learning content.

這些客戶關係多年來在品質基礎上被悉心培育，也因此帶來很高的轉換成本。我們很樂見 AI 實驗室與其他機構在能夠造福學習者的工具上所取得的進展。如各位所知，我們正把其中許多進展直接嵌入到我們的產品中，但我們的產品不僅僅是學習內容。

They're designed to manage a course end-to-end and are tightly integrated with the learning management and student information systems at the university level as well as the course curriculum and assessments at the individual professor level. These characteristics are very unique and are supported by enduring competitive strengths. Specifically, our unique deeply embedded position in the learning ecosystem gives us petabytes of proprietary data that we use to improve learning experiences and outcomes.

它們被設計用來端到端管理一門課程，並在大學層級與學習管理系統（LMS）及學生資訊系統緊密整合，同時在個別教授層級也與課程大綱與測評緊密結合。這些特性非常獨特，並由長久不衰的競爭優勢所支撐。具體而言，我們在學習生態系中深度嵌入的獨特位置，使我們擁有 PB 等級的專有資料，並用以改善學習體驗與成果。

We have data from billions of student engagements and submissions and hundreds of thousands of instances of instructive feedback occurring on our platforms every year, and that allows us to build ever more effective products.

我們每年在平台上累積來自數十億次學生互動與作業提交的資料，以及數十萬次具指導性的回饋案例，這使我們能打造愈來愈有效的產品。

Pearson holds leading positions across almost all our businesses. This leadership provides scale economics and strong operating leverage at an individual business level and a breadth of offerings that is unmatched globally. The diversity makes the business model robust.

培生在幾乎所有業務中都居於領先地位。這種領導地位帶來規模經濟與單一業務層級的強勁營運槓桿，以及全球無可匹敵的產品與服務廣度。多元性使商業模式更具韌性。

And our trust underpins all of these strengths. This has been gained through a long track record of operational excellence in our large-scale services businesses and through our quality IP, expertise in how people learn and how to deliver evidence of learning outcomes with formal education institutions. Trust is valuable and plays to our unique strengths because the closer you are to the teacher and the learner, the more trust you need to operate. And trust in verified skills is even more important in an AI era.

而我們的信任是所有這些優勢的基石。這份信任來自我們在大規模服務業務中長期的卓越營運紀錄，以及我們高品質的智慧財產、對人類如何學習的專業理解，並能與正規教育機構共同提供學習成果的證據。信任很有價值，也契合我們的獨特優勢，因為你越接近教師與學習者，就越需要信任才能運作。而在 AI 時代，對已驗證技能的信任更為重要。

Taking a step back, what does this all add up to? The mega trends of demographics and AI will continue to be major demand drivers for skilling and the validation of skills and Pearson as the world's lifelong learning company is perfectly positioned to benefit.

退一步來看，這一切加總起來意味著什麼？人口結構與 AI 這兩大巨型趨勢，將持續成為技能培訓與技能驗證的主要需求驅動因素；而培生作為全球終身學習公司，具備絕佳的受益位置。

Our unique characteristics of trust, infrastructure level quality, operational strength and breadth of services that are embedded deep in the learning ecosystems, alongside our investments in AI-driven innovation delivers strong durable cash flows and profitability. And our deep and enduring competitive advantages provide us a unique platform for future growth. You'll remember that we set out three priorities in 2025, and I'm pleased to say that we successfully delivered on all of them. Thank you to the focus of our people, on our customers and on execution.

我們獨特的特質——信任、基礎設施等級的品質、營運實力，以及深度嵌入學習生態系的服務廣度——再加上我們在 AI 驅動創新上的投資，帶來強勁且可持續的現金流與獲利能力。而我們深厚且長久的競爭優勢，為未來成長提供了獨特的平台。各位還記得我們在 2025 年設定的三項優先事項，我很高興地表示，我們已成功達成全部目標。感謝同仁們對客戶與執行力的專注。

First, we have again delivered a financial performance in line with expectations with revenue growth increasing 4%, profit up 6% and strong free cash flow, demonstrating the attractiveness of Pearson's business model. Second, we continue to embed AI-based innovation across our products and services, allowing us to deliver more engaging, personalized learning experiences. Importantly, we're seeing continued tangible improvements in both learner engagement and outcomes.

第一，我們再次交出符合預期的財務表現：營收成長 4%、利潤成長 6%，且自由現金流強勁，展現培生商業模式的吸引力。第二，我們持續在產品與服務中導入以 AI 為基礎的創新，使我們能提供更具吸引力、更個人化的學習體驗。重要的是，我們看到學習者參與度與學習成果都持續出現具體改善。

And third, we're making great progress on enterprise. Our new go-to-market strategy is delivering results, and we see clear financial momentum with a growing revenue backlog now totaling hundreds of millions of dollars of incremental sales to 2030. This means the enterprise business is on a journey towards delivering meaningful shareholder value, underpinning an acceleration in our growth over the medium term.

第三，我們在企業業務方面取得很大進展。我們新的市場進入策略（go-to-market strategy）正在帶來成果；我們也看到明確的財務動能，持續成長的營收待履約/訂單積壓（backlog）目前已累計至數億美元，代表到 2030 年的新增銷售。這意味著企業業務正走在創造具意義股東價值的道路上，並支撐我們在中期加速成長。

You'll remember our strategy outline, our why, what and how that we first shared in 2024, and that framework continues to guide us. We're motivated by our purpose to help people realize the life they imagine through learning. We'll show a video at the end of our presentation, which is part of a series highlighting the real-life impact learning has on real people, playing directly into the unique role of Pearson in the world.

各位還記得我們在 2024 年首次分享的策略架構——我們的為什麼、做什麼以及如何做——這個框架至今仍持續指引我們。我們以使命為動力：透過學習，幫助人們實現他們所想像的人生。我們將在簡報結尾播放一段影片，這是系列影片的一部分，呈現學習對真實人物所帶來的真實影響，也直接呼應培生在世界中的獨特角色。

Next, our what. It remains clear. We're the global leader in assessments and verification. That is our core. And we're implementing our strategy to drive performance in our core businesses, realizing execution synergies while also investing in the faster-growing segments of early careers and enterprise skilling. And finally, our how consists of our internal capital allocation process, prioritizing innovation to deliver better learning outcomes and embedding a high-performance culture top to bottom.

接下來，我們的「做什麼」。這一點依然很清楚。我們是評量與驗證領域的全球領導者。這是我們的核心。我們正在落實策略，以推動核心業務績效，在實現執行協同效益的同時，也投資於成長更快的早期職涯與企業技能培訓等領域。最後，我們的「如何做」包括內部資本配置流程，優先投入創新以帶來更好的學習成果，並自上而下地打造高績效文化。

Let me share some details on our progress in 2025, starting with driving performance in our core businesses. Here, our progress and execution focus gives us confidence that each business unit is on a clear path to improved growth, benefiting from strengthening our sales muscles and developing our product road maps to be ever more competitive. First, assessment and qualification growth increased in 2025, thanks to our team's clear focus on executing for our customers.

我想分享一些我們在2025年的進展細節，先從推動核心業務績效談起。在這裡，我們的進展與執行重點讓我們有信心：各事業單位都走在明確的改善成長路徑上，受益於我們強化銷售能力，以及持續打造更具競爭力的產品路線圖。首先，評量與資格認證在2025年實現成長，這要歸功於團隊對為客戶落地執行的明確聚焦。

Clinical Assessment and our Qualifications business performed strongly, benefiting from digital growth and international expansion. Pearson Professional Assessments secured scope extensions and new awards with enterprises such as Google, ACCA and others that we have won and will communicate in the year ahead, which will contribute to faster future growth.

臨床評量與我們的資格認證業務表現強勁，受益於數位成長與國際擴張。Pearson Professional Assessments 與Google、ACCA等企業取得了範疇擴展與新獎項；我們已贏得並將在未來一年對外溝通，這將有助於帶動更快的未來成長。

US Student Assessment made progress, unlocking adjacent market growth through our partnership with McGraw Hill, and we expect continued momentum in 2026 with ongoing growth in enterprise, international markets and new product innovation.

美國學生評量業務取得進展，透過與McGraw Hill的合作解鎖鄰近市場成長；我們預期2026年將延續動能，企業端、國際市場與新產品創新將持續成長。

Second, English Language Learning, Sharon and the team continue to execute strongly with customer wins in key institutional markets, for example, in Latin America and market share gain in PTE, where we maintained our revenue level even while global market volumes declined by about 15%. We will build on the momentum in upskilling enterprise talent with English skills and drive further market share gains contributing to higher growth in 2026.

第二，英語學習方面，Sharon與團隊持續強力執行，在關鍵機構市場贏得客戶，例如拉丁美洲；同時在PTE市占提升，即使全球市場量下滑約15%，我們仍維持了營收水準。我們將延續動能，透過英語技能提升企業人才能力，並進一步提升市占，為2026年更高成長做出貢獻。

Next, in higher education, we delivered faster growth in 2025 despite the K-12 transition and trading conditions in international markets. We progressed our early career strategy, operationalizing our direct K-12 sales team to take advantage of the fast-growing career readiness opportunity.

接著在高等教育方面，儘管K-12轉型以及國際市場的交易環境影響，我們在2025年仍實現更快成長。我們推進早期職涯策略，將直營K-12銷售團隊運作化，以把握快速成長的職涯準備（career readiness）機會。

Our core US Higher Education business performed solidly with continued strength in inclusive access. And at the same time, we see value upside as we know we can do better, especially in channel execution to improve inclusive access growth and accelerating platform convergence and simplification in 2026.

我們的美國高等教育核心業務表現穩健，inclusive access持續強勁。同時，我們也看到價值上行空間，因為我們知道自己可以做得更好，特別是在通路執行上，以改善inclusive access的成長，並在2026年加速平台整合與簡化。

Now turning to Enterprise Learning and skills. Vishaal and the team continue to lay the foundations for growth, building our global enterprise sales team, securing a series of long-term meaningful strategic relationships with blue-chip names, and I'm going to say a bit more about that in a few minutes. And then finally, Virtual Learning had a standout year.

現在轉到企業學習與技能。Vishaal與團隊持續為成長奠定基礎，建立我們的全球企業銷售團隊，並與多家一線知名企業建立一系列長期且具實質意義的策略關係；我幾分鐘後會再多談一些。最後，虛擬學習（Virtual Learning）在今年表現特別突出。

We're now seeing the benefits of the execution improvements that we told you about this time last year, including our new enrollment portal and targeted marketing investments to capture strong demand. We've enhanced our early careers offering with new industry partnerships, which are now embedded across the entire school network. And we're excited about the potential for this business in 2026 and beyond. We are a leader and gaining share in a market that has strong demand plus opportunities to add capacity to our school network.

我們現在看到去年此時向各位提到的執行改善所帶來的效益，包括新的報名入口網站，以及為掌握強勁需求而進行的精準行銷投資。我們透過新的產業合作夥伴關係強化早期職涯產品，且這些合作已嵌入整個學校網路。我們對2026年及之後這項業務的潛力感到振奮。我們在一個需求強勁、且有機會為學校網路增加容量的市場中，處於領先地位並持續提升市占。

And we can drive further business unit-specific improvements with execution synergies driving value to Pearson as a whole. We're driving synergies across our business units, supported by AI-enabled cost optimization opportunities and ongoing process improvements while enabling faster product innovation. These synergies are providing additional capacity to invest in the business, supporting future growth. In 2025, we generated about 200 basis points of margin through cost savings. which, of course, we are reinvesting. Expect us to continue to optimize our business, enabling ongoing investment and margin progression within our P&L envelope.

我們也能透過執行協同效益，推動各事業單位更進一步的改善，為整體Pearson創造價值。我們在各事業單位之間推動協同，並由AI賦能的成本最佳化機會與持續的流程改善所支持，同時加速產品創新。這些協同效益提供額外能力以投資業務，支持未來成長。2025年，我們透過成本節省帶來約200個基點的利潤率提升；當然，我們也正在將其再投資。請期待我們持續最佳化業務，在損益表（P&L）框架內推動持續投資與利潤率提升。

Let me give you a little update on our progress across our key synergy areas. First, we've consolidated our suppliers and deepened our relationships with a smaller number of key partners to create customer impact, drive efficiencies and grow our businesses. Our latest partnership with Salesforce provides all of these benefits. We've deepened our sales intelligence capabilities at an optimized cost while supporting Salesforce's own reskilling priorities with our suite of enterprise products.

我來簡要更新我們在幾個關鍵協同領域的進展。首先，我們整併供應商，並與較少數的關鍵夥伴深化關係，以創造客戶影響、提升效率並推動業務成長。我們與Salesforce的最新合作夥伴關係帶來上述所有效益。我們在最佳化成本下深化銷售情報能力，同時也以我們的企業產品組合支持Salesforce自身的再技能（reskilling）優先事項。

Second, we are improving our operational systems, leveraging new AI technologies to provide better customer service, faster routes to market and improved data capabilities to support our decision-making. Teams using our AI content development tools saw content editing time reduced by at least 40%, translation costs reduced by nearly one third and content alignment costs down by one fourth. Our AI customer services agents handled over 130,000 customer interactions, delivering an approximately 40% reduction in volumes where our agents have been deployed.

第二，我們正在改善營運系統，運用新的AI技術提供更好的客戶服務、更快的上市路徑，以及更強的數據能力以支持決策。使用我們AI內容開發工具的團隊，內容編輯時間至少縮短40%，翻譯成本降低近三分之一，內容對齊成本下降四分之一。我們的AI客服代理處理了超過13萬次客戶互動，在部署代理的範圍內，互動量約降低40%。

And we'll unlock further value as we move from these pilot stages to wider internal scale and develop new workflows with agentic technologies. Through our newly established revenue operations function, we now have a single standardized sales pipeline across Pearson and a simplified sales incentive framework, improving forecast visibility and sales disciplines.

隨著我們從試點階段走向更廣泛的內部規模化，並以代理式（agentic）技術開發新工作流程，我們將釋放更多價值。透過新成立的營收營運（revenue operations）職能，我們現在在Pearson全公司採用單一、標準化的銷售管線，以及更簡化的銷售激勵架構，提升預測可視性與銷售紀律。

Now turning to brand. If you went online to look for all the Pearson properties and assets and products, you would have been met with this kind of brand soup. We are creating a more unified Pearson presence, allowing for a simplified and intuitive product portfolio, enabling easier selling and purchasing and, in my opinion, an improved signal-to-noise ratio. You will have seen this in the new Pearson branding that we launched last year as well as through our product portfolio, for instance, Pearson Learn and Pearson Career Ready. Finally, we're making progress on implementing a modern software development approach.

現在談到品牌。如果你上網搜尋所有Pearson的資產、資源與產品，你會看到一種「品牌大雜燴」。我們正在打造更一致的Pearson品牌呈現，讓產品組合更簡化、更直覺，讓銷售與採購更容易，並且在我看來能提升訊噪比。你已在我們去年推出的新Pearson品牌識別中看到這點，也能從我們的產品組合中看到，例如Pearson Learn與Pearson Career Ready。最後，我們也在推進導入現代化的軟體開發方法。

These Pearson-wide set of tools and methods maximize the value of our sector-leading product and technology cash spend, which totaled approximately GBP1 billion last year, which means we're investing in innovation for the future while building on our core competitive strengths.

這套Pearson全公司共用的工具與方法，能將我們在業界領先的產品與技術現金支出價值最大化；去年總額約為10億英鎊，這意味著我們在鞏固核心競爭優勢的同時，也在為未來投資創新。

Through our efforts, we're accelerating the rate of innovation across the company, leveraging shared capabilities to embed best-in-class AI-enabled tools and functionality across the business units, supporting their market position. As usage of our AI tools scale among end users, we continue to demonstrate clear benefits, including for educators who are freeing up time to spend on teaching and for students who are actually improving their learning outcomes.

透過這些努力，我們正在加速全公司的創新速度，運用共享能力，在各事業單位導入同級最佳、AI賦能的工具與功能，支持其市場地位。隨著終端使用者對我們AI工具的使用規模擴大，我們持續展現明確效益，包括教育工作者能釋放時間投入教學，以及學生確實改善其學習成果。

Let's now show the breadth of our AI offering in higher education and how we're improving student outcomes.

現在讓我們展示我們在高等教育領域AI產品的廣度，以及我們如何改善學生成果。

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And what this highlights is not just the pace at which we're innovating, but how deeply embedded AI now is in our capabilities to improve outcomes. Let me shift now to sharing our progress on our two medium-term growth vectors, starting with enterprise skilling. When I speak to CEOs, the message is consistent. AI is shortening the half-life of skills, and there is no positive outcome with AI transformation to be achieved without real investment in human learning. Therefore, there's increased urgency around reskilling, closing productivity gaps and preparing for the AI-driven reconfiguration of jobs.

這凸顯的不僅是我們創新的速度，也顯示AI如今已深度嵌入我們提升成果的能力之中。接下來我想分享我們在兩個中期成長向量上的進展，先從企業技能培訓開始。當我與CEO們交流時，訊息是一致的。AI正在縮短技能的半衰期；若不對人類學習做出真正投資，就不可能在AI轉型中取得正向成果。因此，企業對再技能、縮小生產力落差，以及為AI驅動的工作重構做準備的急迫性正在提高。

The scale of change is moving enterprises away from traditional learning and development approaches with discrete tools that show little or no ROI and towards partners who can co-develop learning experiences and connect skills, data and talent intelligence into a unified ecosystem. The strengths of Pearson play into this opportunity, and we're making good progress unlocking it.

變革的規模正推動企業遠離傳統的學習與發展方式——那些由零散工具組成、幾乎看不到ROI的做法——轉而尋找能共同開發學習體驗，並將技能、數據與人才洞察整合到單一生態系中的合作夥伴。Pearson的優勢正好契合這個機會，而我們在解鎖這項機會方面進展良好。

Our newly established go-to-market approach has led to nine important partnerships that you can see on the slide. The common thread across each of these logos is that these enterprises matter in the future of technology. They have large workforces with significant reskilling needs, and they share our conviction about the importance of skills in the AI era. And they chose Pearson because we're the world's lifelong learning company.

我們新建立的上市推廣（go-to-market）策略，已促成投影片上可見的九項重要合作夥伴關係。這些標誌背後的共同點是：這些企業在科技的未來都舉足輕重。他們擁有龐大的員工規模，且有顯著的再技能培訓需求，並與我們同樣堅信在 AI 時代技能的重要性。他們選擇培生，是因為我們是全球的終身學習公司。

Let me remind you of the scope of these long-term partnerships and then go on to tell you why these deals matter. First, they commit our partners to being Pearson customers. We've created significant sales opportunities already, such as the integration of our learning products to support Amazon's workforce development, English Language Assessments for TCS, certifications at scale for Google through Pearson Professional Assessments, Credly as a key credentialing partner to Microsoft's new skilling platform and sales skilling through a combination of assessments and personalized content for IBM and Cognizant. And there are clear parts and commitments with each partner to do more.

我先提醒各位這些長期合作夥伴關係的範疇，接著再說明為何這些交易重要。第一，它們承諾我們的合作夥伴成為培生的客戶。我們已經創造了顯著的銷售機會，例如：整合我們的學習產品以支援亞馬遜的員工發展、為 TCS 提供英語語言測評、透過 Pearson Professional Assessments 為 Google 提供大規模認證、由 Credly 作為微軟新技能平台的關鍵證書合作夥伴，以及為 IBM 與 Cognizant 結合測評與個人化內容提供銷售技能培訓。而且與每位合作夥伴都明確規劃了可進一步擴大的領域與承諾。

Second, Pearson is also a customer of their engineering skills and services, for instance, through the deployment of AI tools for content generation or the use of Azure and Bedrock capabilities in our AI-enabled products. And third, we're engaging in the joint innovation and go-to-market activity that unlocks new opportunities for instance through complementary solution models and access to industries or geographies.

第二，培生同時也是他們工程技能與服務的客戶，例如：部署用於內容生成的 AI 工具，或在我們的 AI 賦能產品中使用 Azure 與 Bedrock 的能力。第三，我們正投入共同創新與上市推廣活動，以解鎖新機會，例如透過互補的解決方案模式，以及進入特定產業或地理市場。

Examples of progress here, including partnering with HCLTech on a skilling initiative for a major US retailer and embedding our enterprise product suite and assessments and learning content in the Deloitte Academy, which is Deloitte's comprehensive skills transformation offer that they offer to their clients globally. Microsoft was a key strategic partnership early on, and we've made significant progress in 2025. We're excited by the innovation alongside them, very excited. We now offer personalized adaptive learning experiences directly in the flow of work. Let's introduce you to communications approach. Please roll the video.

這方面的進展例子包括：與 HCLTech 合作，為一家美國大型零售商推動技能培訓計畫；以及將我們的企業產品套件、測評與學習內容嵌入 Deloitte Academy——也就是德勤提供給全球客戶的全面技能轉型方案。微軟在早期就是關鍵的策略合作夥伴，而我們在 2025 年已取得重大進展。我們對與他們並肩創新感到非常振奮，真的非常期待。我們現在能在工作流程中直接提供個人化的自適應學習體驗。讓我們向各位介紹我們的溝通方式。請播放影片。

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We're just at the start of what we can do with our partners as we combine Pearson's proprietary content, data and assessment capabilities with their scale, enterprise selling and reach. Our enterprise business will contribute meaningful shareholder value over the medium term, and we're pleased by the progress so far. I know I have a finance audience in the room.

當我們把培生的專有內容、數據與測評能力，與合作夥伴的規模、企業銷售能力與觸及範圍結合時，我們與合作夥伴能做的事情才剛開始。我們的企業業務將在中期為股東創造具意義的價值，我們也對目前的進展感到滿意。我知道在座有不少是財務領域的聽眾。

So from a financial perspective, the contracts we signed in 2025 lock in revenues of hundreds of millions of dollars with existing customers, and they add incremental cumulative revenue commitments to Pearson of hundreds of millions of dollars through to 2030, with value being realized in AMQ, ELL and ELS.

因此，從財務角度來看，我們在 2025 年簽署的合約，已與既有客戶鎖定數億美元的收入，並且為培生新增至 2030 年為止、累計數億美元的增量收入承諾，其價值將在 AMQ、ELL 與 ELS 中逐步實現。

Now let's turn to our second growth vector, early careers. In an AI-driven economy, concerns are particularly acute around entry-level roles. That makes job-ready and vocationally aligned skills more important than ever. We estimate the early careers market is about a $6 billion opportunity in the US alone.

接下來談我們第二個成長向量：職涯早期（early careers）。在 AI 驅動的經濟中，對入門級職位的擔憂尤其強烈。這使得具備就業準備度、並與職業路徑對齊的技能比以往任何時候都更重要。我們估計僅在美國，職涯早期市場就約有 60 億美元的機會。

It is fragmented with no clear winner and has been underserved historically, presenting a clear adjacent opportunity for Pearson given our strengths. We had an early presence through our career offerings within virtual schools and relevant IP in higher education and career-ready certifications in Certiport. We're augmenting these areas with significant investment.

該市場高度分散、沒有明確的領導者，且過去長期服務不足；鑑於我們的優勢，這為培生帶來清晰的相鄰機會。我們早期已透過虛擬學校中的職涯課程、在高等教育中的相關智慧財產，以及 Certiport 的職涯就緒認證，建立初步布局。我們正以顯著投資來強化這些領域。

For example, we improved our channel access through a direct Salesforce to deepen and expand our relationships with US school administrators. And we expanded our capabilities through the acquisition of eDynamic Learning, North America's largest provider of digital career and technical education. So by optimizing our model across these areas, we're driving new growth here and are energized by the progress in unlocking this attractive adjacent market.

例如，我們透過建立直營銷售團隊（Salesforce）改善通路觸達，以深化並擴大與美國學校行政人員的關係。我們也透過收購 eDynamic Learning 擴充能力；該公司是北美最大的數位職涯與技術教育（CTE）供應商。因此，透過在這些領域優化我們的模式，我們正推動新的成長，並對開拓這個具吸引力的相鄰市場的進展感到振奮。

I now want to shift gears a little and come back briefly to the topic of power metrics. These are a small number of metrics of leading indicators that we want to report to you on a go-forward basis. We chose these metrics because they signal clearly the future health of the business, and we want also Pearson's people to be laser-focused on these as part of their incentives as well.

我現在想稍微轉換一下，簡要回到「關鍵指標」（power metrics）的主題。這些是少數幾項領先指標，我們希望未來能持續向各位報告。我們選擇這些指標，是因為它們能清楚反映業務未來的健康狀況；同時我們也希望培生的同仁在激勵機制下，能高度聚焦於這些指標。

First, our renewals metric. The renewal rate was strong at 96%, reflecting the competitive strength of our businesses. While Pearson Professional Assessment continued to drive near perfect retention, the metric was impacted by New Jersey and US student assessment, although we were successful in another 38 competitive renewals in that business. And our renewals metric will be supported by our second growth metric, which shows the average annual new contract value signed across our core large-scale assessment businesses.

第一項是續約指標。續約率維持強勁，達 96%，反映我們各項業務的競爭優勢。雖然 Pearson Professional Assessment 持續帶來近乎完美的留存，但該指標受到新澤西州與美國學生測評業務的影響；不過我們在該業務中仍成功完成另外 38 項競爭性續約。而我們的續約指標也將由第二項成長指標支撐，該指標顯示我們核心大型測評業務所簽署的新合約平均年度新合約價值。

In 2025, our metric was GBP33 million, benefiting from large wins such as Google with Pearson Professional Assessment and our formative assessments contract with McGraw Hill. And given contracts in this space are long term in nature, you should think of this metric as cumulative over a three to five-year period.

在 2025 年，該指標為 3,300 萬英鎊，受惠於多項重大得標，例如：Google 與 Pearson Professional Assessment 的合作，以及我們與 McGraw Hill 的形成性評量合約。由於此領域的合約本質上屬於長期合約，你應將此指標視為三到五年期間的累計表現。

Lastly, we extended our major customer metric to 49 in 2025, reflecting both new customer wins and expansion within existing relationships, demonstrating our momentum in enterprise. As you can see, we have now made a lot of progress in our business while delivering on our commitments, which will contribute to an even stronger 2026.

最後，我們在 2025 年將主要客戶指標擴大至 49 家，反映新客戶得標以及既有關係中的擴張，展現我們在企業市場的動能。如各位所見，我們在履行承諾的同時，已在業務上取得大量進展，這將促成 2026 年更強勁的表現。

Our unique business model, continued progress against our strategy, plus our strong focus on execution means that we're guiding to a further improved financial profile in 2026. This builds on our track record of financial progression and meeting market expectations each year since COVID.

我們獨特的商業模式、策略推進的持續進展，加上對執行力的高度聚焦，使我們對 2026 年提出更進一步改善的財務輪廓指引。這建立在我們自 COVID 以來每年財務持續進步並達成市場預期的紀錄之上。

I'd like to now hand over to the wonderful Sally to break down in more detail our financial performance for '25 and the financial outlook for '26.

接下來我想把時間交給出色的 Sally，請她更詳細拆解我們 2025 年的財務表現，以及 2026 年的財務展望。

Thanks, Omar, and good morning, everybody. 2025 delivered another year of good financial performance. Sales grew 4% with a 6% increase in underlying profit and margin expansion from 16.9% to 17.2% despite currency headwinds. Adjusted EPS increased 4% to 64.5p, reflecting that solid trading performance and a reduced share count from the share buyback, partially offset by higher interest costs. It's worth noting that EPS grew 9% at constant FX rates.

謝謝你，Omar，各位早安。2025 年我們再度交出良好的財務表現。銷售成長 4%，基本利潤成長 6%，即使面臨匯率逆風，利潤率仍由 16.9% 擴張至 17.2%。調整後 EPS 成長 4% 至 64.5 便士，反映穩健的交易表現與庫藏股回購帶來的股數下降，但部分被較高的利息成本所抵銷。值得注意的是，以固定匯率計算，EPS 成長 9%。

Cash performance continues to be strong with free cash flow conversion of 125%, including the state aid recovery, 98% without. This strong performance, combined with our balance sheet strength, supports a 5% increase in the dividend. We also recently commenced a further GBP350 million share buyback, demonstrating proactive capital allocation to drive incremental shareholder value.

現金表現持續強勁，自由現金流轉換率達 125%（包含政府補助追回），若不含則為 98%。這項強勁表現，加上我們資產負債表的實力，支持股利提高 5%。我們近期也啟動另一項 3.5 億英鎊的股票回購，展現主動的資本配置，以推動額外的股東價值。

Before we get into the detail, we've updated the slide we shared last year, demonstrating historical financial progression for 2025 data. We have a track record of consistent progress with underlying sales, profit, free cash and return on capital growth. This demonstrates the momentum in the business and underpins our confidence in both our 2026 outlook, which I'll come to in a minute, and our medium-term guidance.

在進入細節之前，我們更新了去年分享的投影片，納入 2025 年數據，以呈現歷史財務進展。我們在基本銷售、利潤、自由現金與資本報酬率方面，皆有持續進步的紀錄。這顯示業務動能，並支撐我們對 2026 年展望（我稍後會說明）以及中期指引的信心。

But first, a recap on our 2025 sales performance with group underlying growth of 4%. By business unit, Assessments and Qualifications delivered a solid performance with growth accelerating in H2, particularly in Q4 and all sub-business units contributing to that growth of 4%. Virtual Learning delivered a strong performance, particularly in H2 when sales were up 18%. Fall enrollments were up 13%, supported by enhancements to our enrollment platform, improved retention, the rollout of our career academies, targeted marketing and strong underlying market growth.

首先回顧 2025 年的銷售表現，集團基本成長為 4%。以事業單位來看，Assessments and Qualifications 表現穩健，下半年（H2）成長加速，尤其在第四季（Q4），且所有子事業單位皆對 4% 的成長有所貢獻。Virtual Learning 表現強勁，特別是在下半年，銷售成長 18%。秋季入學人數成長 13%，受惠於我們對報名平台的強化、留存率提升、職涯學院的推廣、精準行銷，以及市場基本成長強勁。

Higher Ed growth improved as expected versus 2024. Our core US Higher Ed business delivered a solid performance with anticipated offsets from K-12 and international, both of which are expected to improve in 2026. English Language Learning continued to grow, driven by institutional, while PTE was flat year-on-year, outperforming a challenging market. And Enterprise Learning and Skills grew 6% with another solid performance from Vocational Qualifications and momentum in Enterprise Solutions, who grew 20% in Q4.

高等教育業務的成長如預期般較 2024 年有所改善。我們美國核心高等教育業務表現穩健，並如預期受到 K-12 與國際業務的部分抵銷影響；兩者預計在 2026 年改善。英語學習（English Language Learning）在機構端帶動下持續成長，而 PTE 年對年持平，在充滿挑戰的市場中表現優於同業。企業學習與技能（Enterprise Learning and Skills）成長 6%，職業資格（Vocational Qualifications）再度交出穩健表現，且企業解決方案（Enterprise Solutions）動能強勁，第四季成長 20%。

Group adjusted operating profit grew 6% on an underlying basis to GBP614 million. This was driven by operating leverage from sales growth and continued cost savings, partially offset by investment and inflation. FX also impacted the headline movement. Adjusted operating profit margin increased to 17.2%.

集團調整後營業利益按基本面計算成長 6%，至 6.14 億英鎊。主要受銷售成長帶來的營運槓桿與持續的成本節省所推動，但部分被投資與通膨所抵銷。匯率亦影響表面（headline）變動。調整後營業利益率提升至 17.2%。

Again, by business unit, Assessments & Qualifications margins remained at 23% with margin benefits from sales growth offset by investment, inflation and currency movements. Virtual Learning margins increased to 16%, driven by operating leverage on strong sales growth. Higher Ed margins remained flat as sales growth was offset by investment, inflation and currency movements.

同樣地，按事業單位來看，評量與資格（Assessments & Qualifications）利潤率維持在 23%，銷售成長帶來的利潤率效益被投資、通膨與匯率變動所抵銷。虛擬學習（Virtual Learning）利潤率提升至 16%，主要由強勁銷售成長帶來的營運槓桿所驅動。高等教育（Higher Ed）利潤率持平，因銷售成長被投資、通膨與匯率變動所抵銷。

English Language Learning margins also remained flat with cost savings offset by inflation and currency movements. And Enterprise Learning and Skills margins increased to 10%, driven by margin on sales growth. Statutory profit declined 6%, predominantly due to a noncash one-off impairment relating to our Higher Ed platforms, partially offset by vacant property provision reversals following sublets in 80 Strand and Hoboken. As Omar mentioned, in 2026, we plan to accelerate the conversions of our Higher Ed platforms to streamline and modernize our courseware offering and reduce support costs. A consequence of this is an impairment of GBP87 million in some of our assets, which is one-off and noncash in nature.

英語學習（English Language Learning）利潤率亦維持持平，成本節省被通膨與匯率變動所抵銷。企業學習與技能（Enterprise Learning and Skills）利潤率提升至 10%，由銷售成長帶來的利潤率所驅動。法定（statutory）利潤下滑 6%，主要因與我們高等教育平台相關的一次性非現金減損，部分被 80 Strand 與 Hoboken 轉租後的空置物業準備回轉所抵銷。如 Omar 所提，2026 年我們計畫加速高等教育平台的轉換，以精簡並現代化我們的課程教材（courseware）產品，並降低支援成本。其結果是對部分資產認列 8,700 萬英鎊減損，屬一次性且為非現金性質。

This write-off now generates a mechanical circa GBP15 million per annum profit improvement in Higher Ed on average over the next six years. Free cash flow increased by 8% with a conversion of 125% due to the recovery of state aid taxes. Conversion, excluding that state aid recovery was still a strong 98%. Operating cash conversion was 93% with an increase in working capital in the year given high Q4 sales growth and slightly increased investment. Our balance sheet remains strong with a leverage at a comfortable 1.3 times at the end of the year, below our medium-term cap of 2 times EBITDA, maintaining optionality to make value-enhancing investments and/or shareholder returns.

此項沖銷（write-off）現在在未來六年平均每年為高等教育帶來機械性約 1,500 萬英鎊的利潤改善。自由現金流成長 8%，轉換率達 125%，係因州政府補助相關稅款（state aid taxes）回收。若排除該州補助回收，轉換率仍有強勁的 98%。營運現金轉換率為 93%，由於第四季銷售成長強勁以及投資略增，年度營運資金增加。我們的資產負債表仍然穩健，年末槓桿倍數為舒適的 1.3 倍，低於我們中期上限（cap）的 2 倍 EBITDA，保有進行增值投資及／或回饋股東的彈性。

Net debt at the end of the year was GBP1.1 billion, a GBP0.2 billion year-on-year increase with free cash flow more than offset by the share buyback and acquisition of eDynamic Learning and dividends. Return on capital increased 80 basis points to 11.3%, more than 250 basis points ahead of post-tax WACC.

年末淨負債為 11 億英鎊，年對年增加 2 億英鎊；自由現金流雖然強勁，但被庫藏股回購、收購 eDynamic Learning 以及股利所抵銷後仍不足以完全覆蓋。資本報酬率（Return on capital）提升 80 個基點至 11.3%，較稅後加權平均資本成本（WACC）高出逾 250 個基點。

Turning to guidance for 2026 and beyond. As we've previously guided, in the medium term, you can expect mid-single-digit CAGR underlying sales growth, sustained margin improvement, equaling an average of 40 basis points per annum and strong free cash conversion in the region of 90% to 100% on average across the period. As you've heard from Omar, we have strong confidence in our ability to deliver in 2026. And therefore, we're laying out specific guidance. At a group level, you can expect mid-single-digit sales growth and adjusted operating profit in the range of GBP640 million to GBP685 million at FX rates as at the end of 2025.

接著談 2026 年及其後的指引。如我們先前所指引，中期而言，您可預期基本面銷售以中個位數 CAGR 成長、利潤率持續改善（平均每年約 40 個基點），以及在整個期間平均約 90% 至 100% 的強勁自由現金轉換。如您從 Omar 的說明所聽到的，我們對於在 2026 年交付成果的能力充滿信心。因此，我們提出更具體的指引。在集團層級，您可預期中個位數的銷售成長，以及在 2025 年底匯率水準下，調整後營業利益介於 6.40 億至 6.85 億英鎊。

The mechanical improvement driven by that 2025 impairment I discussed earlier is included in this range, and free cash conversion will be 90% to 100%. The effective tax rate will be circa 25% and interest will be circa GBP80 million following the commencement of our further GBP350 million share buyback. Included within this guidance is new investment to support our strategy and drive growth, including higher-than-average transformation costs, which are weighted to H1. This investment is more than offset by the margin on sales growth and operational improvements, which drive the group's margin expansion and our GBP0.01 equaling GBP5 million FX profit guide still stands.

我先前提到的 2025 年減損所帶來的機械性改善已包含在此區間內，自由現金轉換將為 90% 至 100%。有效稅率約為 25%，在我們進一步啟動 3.50 億英鎊庫藏股回購後，利息費用約為 8,000 萬英鎊。此指引亦包含支持我們策略並推動成長的新投資，包括高於平均的轉型成本，且主要集中於上半年（H1）。該投資將被銷售成長帶來的利潤率與營運改善所充分抵銷，推動集團利潤率擴張；我們每 0.01 英鎊匯率變動約等於 500 萬英鎊利潤影響的匯率指引仍然成立。

On a business unit basis, A&Q will grow low to mid-single digit, driven by new contracts, products and pricing. Virtual Learning will grow even more strongly than in 2025, given a full year of enrollment growth. Higher Education will grow more than 2025, supported by continued product and platform innovation, pricing and inclusive access in US core as well as improvement in the K-12 channel. English growth will be higher than in 2025 with PTE returning to growth, market share gains and pricing. And Enterprise Learning and Skills growth will be driven by a solid performance in BQ and strategic account growth in Enterprise Solutions.

以事業單位來看，A&Q 將呈低至中個位數成長，主要由新合約、產品與定價所帶動。虛擬學習（Virtual Learning）將較 2025 年成長更強勁，因入學人數成長將反映完整年度。高等教育（Higher Education）將較 2025 年成長更快，受惠於持續的產品與平台創新、定價，以及美國核心業務的 inclusive access，同時 K-12 通路亦將改善。英語業務成長將高於 2025 年，因 PTE 重回成長、取得市占率提升與定價帶動。企業學習與技能（Enterprise Learning and Skills）的成長將由 BQ 的穩健表現以及企業解決方案（Enterprise Solutions）的策略性客戶成長所驅動。

In terms of phasing growth is again H2 weighted, but not as markedly as in 2025. At a business unit level, A&Q will decline in Q1 given the loss of the New Jersey contract and PDRI headwinds, but will then turn to growth in subsequent quarters, supported by new business and recently awarded contracts. Virtual Learning will see strong growth, particularly in H1.

就成長節奏而言，仍將偏向下半年（H2），但不如 2025 年那麼明顯。在事業單位層級，A&Q 因失去新澤西合約以及 PDRI 的逆風，第一季（Q1）將下滑，但在後續季度將轉為成長，並受新業務與近期得標合約支持。虛擬學習將呈現強勁成長，尤其在上半年（H1）。

English growth will again be Q4 weighted given the seasonality of the business and HE and ELS growth is expected to be relatively steady. Our disciplined capital allocation policy remains the same with a focus on maintaining a strong balance sheet, investing both organically and inorganically, paying a progressive and sustainable dividend and then returning surplus cash to shareholders. The slide you see now illustrates how consistently we've applied this policy over the past 6 years.

英語業務成長將再次偏向第四季（Q4），反映該業務的季節性；高等教育（HE）與企業學習與技能（ELS）的成長預期相對平穩。我們嚴謹的資本配置政策維持不變，重點在於維持強健的資產負債表、同時進行有機與無機投資、支付逐步提升且可持續的股利，並在其後將多餘現金回饋股東。您現在看到的投影片說明了過去六年我們如何一貫地執行此政策。

We continue to invest behind the business with meaningful organic cash investment during the year alongside inorganic investment through the $225 million acquisition of eDynamic Learning. Since 2020, we have returned GBP1.4 billion to shareholders through share buybacks with a further GBP350 million program commenced in January, underpinned by another year of strong cash performance in 2025 and our confidence in 2026 and beyond.

我們持續加碼投資於業務，在年度內進行具規模的有機現金投資，同時透過以 2.25 億美元收購 eDynamic Learning 進行無機投資。自 2020 年以來，我們已透過庫藏股回購向股東回饋 14 億英鎊；在 2025 年再度展現強勁現金表現，以及我們對 2026 年及其後的信心支持下，我們於 1 月啟動了進一步 3.50 億英鎊的計畫。

Going forward, we will continue to apply this disciplined approach. And through our strong cash generation, we'll continue to invest behind opportunities to drive further growth and create long-term value for all our stakeholders.

展望未來，我們將持續採取這種嚴謹的方法。憑藉強勁的現金創造能力，我們將持續投資於各項機會，以推動進一步成長，並為所有利害關係人創造長期價值。

And with that, I'll hand back to Omar.

接下來我把時間交回給 Omar。

Thank you, Sally. Okay. So let me wrap up with a quick look at our 2026 priorities. These are simply an evolution of what we focused on in 2025. Firstly, once again, we will deliver on our financial targets.

謝謝你，Sally。好的。那我用簡短的方式總結一下我們 2026 年的優先事項。這些只是我們在 2025 年聚焦事項的延伸。第一，我們將再次達成我們的財務目標。

Second, we will continue to lead in the application of innovative technologies, including AI across our products and services. And third, we will deliver against our core business and enterprise power metrics.

第二，我們將持續在創新科技的應用上保持領先，包括在我們的產品與服務中導入 AI。第三，我們將依照核心業務與企業動能指標（enterprise power metrics）交付成果。

As I said at the beginning, there are three takeaways from today. First, we continue to be very excited about the future of Pearson because of these mega trends driving strong secular demand for exactly what Pearson offers and because of Pearson's unique characteristics and enduring competitive strengths. Second, we successfully met our goals in 2025, demonstrating another good year of financial delivery and significant strategic progress, thanks to our rigorous focus on execution. And finally, you can count on us to do even better in 2026.

如我在一開始所說，今天有三個重點。第一，我們對培生（Pearson）的未來仍感到非常振奮，因為這些巨型趨勢（mega trends）正推動對培生所提供內容的強勁結構性需求（secular demand），同時也因培生具備獨特特質與持久的競爭優勢。第二，我們在 2025 年成功達成目標，憑藉對執行的嚴謹聚焦，再次展現良好的財務交付與顯著的策略進展。最後，您可以期待我們在 2026 年做得更好。

Now let me say a few words about Sally Johnson. I want to congratulate Sally on her fantastic 26-year career at Pearson and the wonderful contributions she has made throughout her journey and for being a wonderful fantastic partner. I am also going to be very excited to introduce you to Simon Robson, previously Group CFO at Sky in the coming months.

現在讓我談幾句關於 Sally Johnson。我想祝賀 Sally 在培生（Pearson）精彩的 26 年職涯，以及她一路走來所做出的卓越貢獻，也感謝她成為一位非常出色、極佳的合作夥伴。我也非常期待在接下來幾個月向各位介紹 Simon Robson，他先前是 Sky 的集團財務長（Group CFO）。

Now let us play a little video that I mentioned earlier before Sally and I and the team here take your questions. We're going to hear from Savannah. She is a real Pearson Connections Academy graduate, who outlines in her own words the life she's realizing through learning, which plays directly into the unique role of Pearson in the world. Please roll the video.

現在在 Sally、我以及這裡的團隊回答各位問題之前，先播放一段我先前提到的小影片。我們將聽 Savannah 分享。她是真正的培生 Connections Academy 畢業生，將用她自己的話描述她透過學習正在實現的人生，這也正好呼應培生在世界上獨特的角色。請播放影片。

(video playing)

(影片播放中)

Neuroscience at NYU, pretty cool.

在紐約大學（NYU）讀神經科學，挺酷的。

Alex?

Alex？

It's James Tate from Goldman Sachs. I've got three questions, please. I guess, firstly, please, could you provide a bit more detail on the moving parts of A&Q growth in 2026? If you didn't have the New Jersey contract loss and PDRI was, say, stable, then would it be fair to assume the division would grow more mid- to high single digits, around 6% rather than the 4% you've broadly guided to? Is that the right way to think about it?

我是高盛（Goldman Sachs）的 James Tate。我有三個問題，謝謝。首先，能否請你們更詳細說明 2026 年 A&Q 成長的各項驅動因素？如果沒有新澤西合約流失，且 PDRI 假設維持穩定，那麼是否可以合理推論該事業部的成長會更接近中到高個位數，大約 6%，而不是你們大致指引的 4%？這樣理解對嗎？

And you've also announced a number of contract wins over the last year with major tech companies in professional assessments. Does there still remain a strong pipeline for potential new contracts going forward?

另外，你們在過去一年於專業評量（professional assessments）領域宣布與多家大型科技公司拿下多個合約。展望未來，潛在新合約的強勁管線是否仍然存在？

Secondly, on EOS, your guidance for 2026, I think, is somewhat vague in terms of you're clearly growing the number of large blue-chip logos you're working with in Enterprise Solutions. Should this not lead to improved revenue growth this year versus '25? Or are there some other dynamics offsetting this that we should be aware of?

第二個問題，關於 EOS，你們對 2026 年的指引我覺得在某種程度上有點模糊；你們顯然正在企業解決方案（Enterprise Solutions）中擴大合作的大型藍籌客戶（blue-chip logos）數量。這不應該帶動今年相較於 2025 年更好的營收成長嗎？還是有其他動態因素在抵銷，我們需要留意？

And thirdly, I guess, Omar, building on your comments about the significant opportunities from generative AI for Pearson, what are the primary risks that you identify? For example, do you see any risk from evolving student learning behaviors impacting demand for Pearson's courseware content in Higher Ed?

第三個問題，Omar，延續你對生成式 AI 為培生帶來重大機會的評論，你認為主要風險是什麼？例如，你是否看到學生學習行為的演變，可能影響高等教育（Higher Ed）對培生課程教材內容（courseware content）的需求？

Great. Thank you. This is just a very light collection there, James. We appreciate that. We appreciate that very much.

很好。謝謝。James，這只是非常「輕量」的一組問題。我們很感謝。我們非常感謝。

I'm sure the other analysts are like Damn, and I wanted that question. But anyway, it's good. So I think on the A&Q dynamics and what's going on under the hood. I mean maybe, Sally, like say a little bit about how you think about the numbers, and now particularly James is asking ex PDRI, ex New Jersey, and maybe add a little bit to what you're seeing, the overall landscape of how that business is performing.

我敢說其他分析師可能在想：可惡，我也想問那題。不過無論如何，挺好的。所以我想先談 A&Q 的動態，以及內部到底發生了什麼。Sally，也許你可以先說說你怎麼看這些數字；尤其 James 問的是排除 PDRI、排除新澤西之後的情況，也請你補充一下你所看到的整體環境，以及這項業務的表現狀況。

Yeah. So I'm going to start and then I'll pass over to Aarti. So low to mid for A&Q in 2026, and you've called out the right pieces. So yes, you can see the impact of New Jersey from a retention point of view. I've called that out because it impacts Q1, and I want you to be ahead of Q1.

好。我先開始，然後再交給 Aarti。2026 年 A&Q 我們預期是低到中個位數成長，而你點出的幾個部分都正確。所以是的，從續約（retention）的角度，你可以看到新澤西的影響。我特別把它提出來，因為它會影響第一季，我希望你們在第一季之前就先掌握。

But then through the rest of the quarters of the year, we bought new contracts online. You heard of Omar calling out the number of them. So we've got a new contracts in Maryville. We've got a new contract in other states. We've got a new contract with Google in Pearson Professional Assessment.

但在年度其餘季度，我們會有新合約上線。你也聽到 Omar 提到其中的數量。我們在 Maryville 有一份新合約。我們在其他州也有新合約。我們在培生專業評量（Pearson Professional Assessment）也與 Google 簽下新合約。

And we've got some new contracts that we can't talk to you about yet because we haven't got the contracts signed, but which we've been verbally awarded. Alongside new products that we're bringing online, pricing and all those sorts of things as well. So we've got really good confidence in the A&Q performance for the year. To your point, I haven't done the math on what you say, but quite clearly, without the PBRI piece with the federal funding and without that New Jersey piece, then yes, it would be better than low to mid.

另外還有一些新合約，我們目前還不能對外說，因為尚未完成簽約，但我們已口頭獲得授標。同時也有我們正在上線的新產品、定價以及諸如此類的因素。因此我們對今年 A&Q 的表現非常有信心。就你提到的點，我沒有去算你說的那個數字，但很明顯，如果沒有 PBRI 那塊與聯邦資金相關的影響，以及沒有新澤西那塊影響，那麼是的，成長會比低到中個位數更好。

Art, do you want to just comment a little bit on how you're thinking about the business shape overall?

Art，你要不要簡單評論一下你對整體業務走勢的看法？

Yeah, absolutely. And good to see you, James. And as Sally said, those two factors are real, particularly in the early part of the year in the course of New Jersey. But contract performance in the two large contract services business, Professional Assessments and School continues to be very strong. We won a competitive bid for Maryland.

好，當然。很高興見到你，James。如 Sally 所說，這兩個因素確實存在，尤其是在年度前段、在新澤西這件事上。但在兩個大型合約服務業務中——專業評量（Professional Assessments）與學校（School）——合約表現仍然非常強勁。我們在馬里蘭州（Maryland）贏得了一項競標案。

We won a competitive bid for Wyoming. We renewed close to 40 other competitive bids. We'll see the impact in 2026 of the full year of running the Salesforce and ServiceNow certification programs within the Professional Assessment business. Omar announced the extension of ACCA. That chartered accountants in the UK for those not familiar, that starts to show up in '26.

我們在懷俄明州（Wyoming）也贏得了一項競標案。我們續約了將近 40 個其他競標案。在專業評量業務中，我們負責執行 Salesforce 與 ServiceNow 認證計畫，2026 年將看到其全年貢獻的影響。Omar 也宣布延長 ACCA。對不熟悉的人來說，那是英國的特許會計師（chartered accountants）資格，這會在 2026 年開始反映出來。

In our UK and international qualifications business, we're launching the Standards and Testing Agency primary school testing contract in '26. We came online with that in '25, but this is the first full year of implementation. We'll be delivering primary school examinations in 16,500 schools in the UK. And our clinical assessment business continues to deliver strong digital innovation into the market.

在我們的英國與國際資歷（UK and international qualifications）業務中，我們將於 2026 年啟動標準與測驗署（Standards and Testing Agency）的國小測驗合約。我們在 2025 年已上線，但 2026 年是第一個完整的執行年度。我們將在英國 16,500 所學校提供國小考試服務。而我們的臨床評量（clinical assessment）業務也持續向市場推出強勁的數位創新。

That business has performed well over the last few years. I encourage you to stay for the product demos afterwards, and you'll see some examples of more innovation that we're bringing to market, and that gives us confidence in strong performance in that business. So overall, we feel great about A&Q.

這項業務在過去幾年表現良好。我鼓勵你們留下來看後續的產品展示，你們會看到一些我們帶到市場上的更多創新例子，這也讓我們對該業務的強勁表現更有信心。所以整體而言，我們對 A&Q 感到非常樂觀。

That's the summary. We feel great about A&Q. On the second question, Sally, I'm going to ask you to say like one word about why our growth guidance was slightly like thin. And then I'm going to ask Vishaal if he's sitting on his hunches having signed nine deals and he's not building pipeline for the future.

總結就是：我們對 A&Q 感到非常樂觀。第二個問題，Sally，我想請你用一句話說明一下，為什麼我們的成長指引看起來稍微偏「薄」。然後我會問 Vishaal：他都簽了九筆交易了，難道就不為未來建立管線了嗎？

But over to you, Sally.

先交給你，Sally。

Yeah. So really confident in ELS growth. But I think we know right now, it's one of the smaller divisions. It's not going to be for long because I know how competitive, apart from anything else, Vishaal is. And that just means that a few million pounds can make a couple of percentage points difference.

好。我們對 ELS 的成長非常有信心。但我想我們也知道，目前它仍是較小的事業部。不過不會太久，因為我知道 Vishaal 的競爭心有多強，這只是其中一點。這也意味著，幾百萬英鎊的差異就可能讓成長率差出幾個百分點。

And therefore, it didn't really seem to make sense when we're looking at it quarter-by-quarter to be too specific. But the BQ part of the business, we'll see solid growth. And I talked about that Enterprise Solutions part of the business and that 20% growth in Q4, it's relatively small now. But if it keeps growing at that rate, it's not going to be relatively small for very long.

因此，當我們按季度來看時，過於精確其實不太合理。但 BQ 這塊業務，我們會看到穩健成長。我也談到企業解決方案（Enterprise Solutions）這部分業務，第四季成長 20%，目前規模相對還小。但如果持續以那樣的速度成長，它很快就不會再是相對小的規模了。

So Vishaal, you're not going to do any more selling and like are we done now with --

所以 Vishaal，你不打算再多賣一些了嗎？我們現在就到此為止了嗎--

Yeah. So just to put a little bit more color to Sally's comments. So we have two businesses within ELS. VQ, we continue to be seeing a lot of robustness in that business. So part of that business or a large part of that business is very UK-centric, where we have the BTEC brand.

是的。我再補充一些背景，呼應 Sally 的評論。我們在 ELS 之內有兩個業務。VQ 方面，我們持續看到該業務非常強勁。其中一部分或很大一部分業務非常以英國為核心，我們在那裡有 BTEC 品牌。

We are also winning a lot of new contracts in the vocational space. So that continues to be driving growth. We are also expanding internationally to countries like Uzbekistan, Pakistan, Jordan and so on. And what is most exciting about that business, we also offer what we call as apprenticeship services. So a bunch of customers, we won a contract we announced last year with the British Army, which we are executing to now. We have something going on with NHS and more coming on -- coming up in Middle East that we will announce shortly.

我們也在職業教育領域贏得了許多新合約。因此這持續推動成長。我們也在國際上擴張到烏茲別克、巴基斯坦、約旦等國家。而這個業務最令人振奮的是，我們也提供所謂的學徒制服務。我們有一批客戶；我們去年宣布與英國陸軍簽下的合約，目前正在執行中。我們也與 NHS 有合作在進行，另外在中東也有更多案子即將推出——我們很快會對外宣布。

So that part of the business is doing relatively well. The other piece, which I'm even more excited about is Enterprise Solutions, where you saw those nine partnerships that we have signed. So my team is singularly focused on execution as we speak. There are many things that we need to put in place to get all of the revenue in all the way from putting together the right product co-innovation road maps with these partners to having the right go-to-market motions and working with them, and these are very big tech players, as you know, working with them globally across all of the regions that they operate in.

所以這一部分業務表現相對不錯。另一塊我更感到興奮的是企業解決方案（Enterprise Solutions），你們也看到我們已簽下那九項合作夥伴關係。因此我的團隊此刻正專注於執行。我們需要落實很多事情，才能把所有營收完整導入：從與這些夥伴共同制定正確的產品共同創新路線圖，到建立正確的上市策略（go-to-market）打法並與他們協作；如你所知，這些都是非常大型的科技業者，我們需要在他們營運的所有區域、以全球規模與他們合作。

So a lot to focus on. But in terms of momentum, we are getting into 2026 with much, much more momentum than we had last year as we got into 2025.

所以有很多要聚焦的事情。但就動能而言，我們邁入 2026 年時的動能，將遠遠高於去年邁入 2025 年時的動能。

Thank you, Vishaal. So James, let me say a couple of things about the AI risk point. I mean, so this one, obviously, we could spend a long time talking about it. I think the market looks and says, hey, if I have a digital format product where the product is purely digital and if the user is the buyer, then what happens if someone puts out an AI tool that is free, like what's that going to do to that market? And I think indeed, that is problematic for some people.

謝謝你，Vishaal。James，關於 AI 風險這點，我補充幾句。這個議題顯然可以談很久。我認為市場會看著說：如果我有一個數位形式的產品、而且產品是純數位、使用者就是買方，那麼如果有人推出一個免費的 AI 工具，這會對那個市場造成什麼影響？我想確實，對某些人來說這是個問題。

The thing is Pearson doesn't do that. The only bit of Pearson that you could say like a little bit -- had a bit of that and it was Mondly. Mondly, we pivoted that a year ago to be a pure institutional and enterprise package. It's like where it's going. That's where all our spend and delivery is going.

但 Pearson 並不是那樣做的。Pearson 唯一可以說有一點點類似的部分是 Mondly。我們在一年前已把 Mondly 轉型為純機構端與企業端的套裝方案。這就是它的走向。我們所有的投入與交付也都朝那個方向。

Pearson is actually -- you get a different outcome from AI. When people are generating AI content at a rate of not, and there's an amazing amount of slop landing them in Internet. When you have deep fakes happening on the Internet and you have false identities on the Internet, we're seeing a giant flight to safety. People want trusted authoritative sources. They want verified identities.

對 Pearson 而言，AI 其實帶來的是不同的結果。當人們以驚人的速度生成 AI 內容，網路上充斥大量低品質內容。當網路上出現深偽（deep fakes），也出現虛假身分時，我們看到的是一波巨大的「轉向安全」趨勢。人們想要可信、具權威性的來源。他們想要經過驗證的身分。

They want validated skills. I mean, as you know, James, today, it's tough for kids graduating or trying to get a job. They fire off 10,000 CVs with a bot and they're screening resumes at the other end by a bot. You've got bots with the bots. So the construct of how resume thing works is not really working.

他們想要被驗證的技能。如你所知，James，現在孩子畢業或找工作很不容易。他們用機器人一次投出 10,000 份履歷，而另一端用機器人篩選履歷。變成機器人對機器人。所以履歷這套運作架構其實已經不太管用了。

Companies are more and more saying, show me that you have a validated skill. That is what Pearson does. So actually, like I said, the AI thing is a giant tailwind for us. And I think whether we like it or not, and you all are much clever on this than I am. But when investors look -- particularly when it's sort of passive investing happening in bundles and Pearson is like wrapped up in media or wrapped up in EdTech, and we are not that.

企業越來越多地在說：證明給我看你具備經過驗證的技能。這正是 Pearson 在做的事。所以其實，如我所說，AI 對我們是巨大的順風。而且我想不管我們喜不喜歡——你們在這方面都比我更懂。但當投資人看待——特別是被動投資以打包方式進行時，Pearson 常被歸在媒體或被歸在 EdTech 裡，但我們不是那樣的公司。

So I think Laura is next. Next to you, Susie.

所以我想下一位是 Laura。Susie，你旁邊那位。

Three questions, please. First one is on the virtual learning margin. So it has improved significantly year-on-year. I understand it's coming mostly from operating leverage. Is there anything else that's driving the margin expansion? And is it reasonable to assume that it's going to continue expanding at the same pace?

請問三個問題。第一個是關於虛擬學習的利潤率。它年對年顯著改善。我理解主要來自營運槓桿。還有其他因素在推動利潤率擴張嗎？而且是否可以合理假設它會以相同速度持續擴張？

Second question is on pricing. So you said you're generating a lot of efficiencies, thanks to AI. I'm curious to hear how are your conversations with clients? Do they expect you to pass on some of these savings? Or is your pricing power very strong, which means that you don't have to give away any of these cost savings that you're realizing?

第二個問題是關於定價。你們說因為 AI 帶來很多效率提升。我想了解你們與客戶的對話情況如何？他們是否期待你們把部分節省下來的成本回饋給他們？還是你們的定價能力非常強，因此不需要讓出任何你們正在實現的成本節省？

And if you could comment on how is pricing evolving across your business, that would be really helpful. And then lastly, on the Higher Ed business, one of your peers, McGraw Hill is growing very fast. Why do you think they're growing so quickly? And do you think you can bridge the gap to their growth rate? And Sally, all the best for the next step in your career.

如果你們能評論一下你們各項業務的定價趨勢如何演變，會非常有幫助。最後一個問題是關於高等教育（Higher Ed）業務：你們的一位同業 McGraw Hill 成長非常快。你認為他們為什麼成長得這麼快？你們覺得能否縮小與他們成長率之間的差距？另外，Sally，祝你職涯下一步一切順利。

Thank you, Laura. So on the Virtual Schools margin, I'm going to ask Tom to just say something there about what is it that you think has driven the success so far? And also, what are you thinking is -- how we're thinking about this going forward?

謝謝你，Laura。關於虛擬學校（Virtual Schools）的利潤率，我想請 Tom 先談談：你認為目前為止成功的驅動因素是什麼？以及你對未來——我們接下來如何看待這件事——有什麼想法？

Yeah, sure. So I mean, I think from a virtual schools perspective, last year, we obviously saw great growth driven by helping people like Savannah, which was lovely to see in that video. I think fundamentally, the margin characteristics of that business are great. The one thing you have to bear in mind is when you grow as quickly as we did last year, you have some teacher vacancies because you're struggling to recruit teachers. It's obviously kind of hard to recruit teachers in Q4 of the year.

好的，當然。就虛擬學校而言，去年我們顯然看到很好的成長，主要是因為我們幫助了像 Savannah 這樣的人——在影片中看到那一段很棒。我認為從根本上說，這個業務的利潤率特性非常好。但你必須記住的一點是：當你像我們去年那樣快速成長時，會出現一些教師職缺，因為你在招募教師上會有些吃力。顯然在一年中的第四季招募教師是相當困難的。

So I think you should expect to see sort of continued margin expansion driven by the top line leverage. But just recognize we may need to catch up and think a little bit differently about teacher hiring because fundamentally, I think we are seeing a very different opportunity in that space, which we're excited about. We just need to make sure we transform how we manage the business to support the ongoing demand.

所以我認為你應該預期會看到在營收端槓桿帶動下，利潤率持續擴張。但也要理解，我們可能需要追趕進度，並以不同方式思考教師招募，因為從根本上來說，我們在那個領域看到非常不同的機會，這讓我們很興奮。我們只是需要確保能轉型我們管理業務的方式，以支撐持續的需求。

And there was also that extra marketing spend that we put in to drive that growth as well. That's all covered in that margin movement too.

另外，我們也投入了額外的行銷支出來推動那個成長。那也都反映在利潤率變動之中。

That was fully absorbed, yes. I mean, Laura, on pricing, I mean, I'll say like the headline is no. I mean, so Pearson, as you'd expect, is constantly investing in getting more efficient and more effective and more productive, and we will continue to do that. But that doesn't mean customers run around and say, hey, we've got to give us some of that savings.

是的，那部分已完全吸收。Laura，至於定價，我的結論是：不會。如你所預期，Pearson 一直在持續投資，以提升效率、效能與生產力，我們也會繼續這麼做。但這不代表客戶會到處說：嘿，你們得把那些節省下來的錢分一些給我們。

And the reason is very simple, and this is the point that I'm trying to make about the business model that I was talking about with James earlier. Pearson is one of two or three companies in the world that can do what we do because it's very hard to deliver that level of operational excellence in driving and assessing standards. And so that's where our gross margins come from. And so the short answer is no.

原因非常簡單，這正是我先前和 James 談到商業模式時想要強調的重點。Pearson 是全球僅有兩三家能做到我們所做之事的公司之一，因為要在推動與評量標準方面達到那種營運卓越的水準非常困難。因此，我們的毛利率就是從這裡來的。所以簡短的答案是：不。

Now having said that, are we going to be complacent? Of course, not. Some of the RevOps things that I spoke about earlier is actually giving us much more fidelity and visibility into our own selling rates, pricing rates, discounting rates. And we're getting more control of that, which I think will allow us to get a bit more value upside. And Tom and the team did some great work in the IA space a little bit in that space recently, and I expect that to continue.

不過話說回來，我們會因此自滿嗎？當然不會。我先前提到的一些 RevOps 作法，實際上讓我們對自身的銷售費率、定價費率、折扣費率有更高的精準度與可視性。而且我們正在更有效地掌控這些，我認為這將使我們能取得更多價值上行空間。Tom 和團隊最近在 IA 領域做了一些非常出色的工作，我預期這會持續下去。

So -- but the short answer is no, we're not having to negotiate prices at the moment. And then on Higher Ed, McGrow Hill, I mean, I love you asking that because, of course, you're pointing to our upside. There's nothing that they're doing that we cannot do. And Pearson is coming from a place where perhaps we were not so well organized a few years ago. And under Tom and the team's leadership, we're in a much better place that business is growing.

所以——但簡短的答案是：不，我們目前不需要去談判價格。至於高等教育（Higher Ed），McGrow Hill，我很喜歡你問這個問題，因為你當然是在指向我們的上行空間。他們在做的事情，沒有任何一件是我們做不到的。而 Pearson 的起點是：也許幾年前我們的組織還沒有那麼完善。在 Tom 和團隊的領導下，我們現在處於更好的位置，這項業務正在成長。

And I think we should aspire to continue to drive performance because McGraw is a great company. We love them, and we can learn as well. So over here and then over here.

我認為我們應該立志持續推動績效，因為 McGraw 是一家很棒的公司。我們喜歡他們，也能向他們學習。那麼這邊，然後那邊。

It's Ciaran Donnelly from Citi. Two on enterprise and then one more. Just on your comments on the backlog in enterprise, could you just give us a sense of what it would have looked like 12 months ago, just to get a sense of how it's grown over the year in the context of the enterprise agreements you've signed? And then I guess, just on those partnerships, I'm just trying to get an understanding of pricing framework. Just in the context, I know there's a debate around AI displacement and unemployment levels.

我是來自 Citi 的 Ciaran Donnelly。兩個關於企業（enterprise）的問題，然後再一個。就你對企業端在手訂單（backlog）的評論而言，你能否讓我們了解一下 12 個月前大概會是什麼樣子，以便在你們已簽署的企業協議背景下，理解它在一年內如何成長？然後我想，就那些合作夥伴關係而言，我試著理解定價架構。在這個脈絡下，我知道市場上對 AI 取代與失業水準有一些辯論。

And I guess just in the context of potentially higher unemployment, how that would affect that business if pricing is based on headcount-led metrics? And then just on the medium-term plan and the average 40 basis point margin improvement per annum. Could you give us a sense of what's the contribution from, I guess, operating leverage and cost efficiencies just around your comments in terms of you've reinvested the cost efficiencies you've delivered over the last couple of years?

我想在可能更高失業率的情境下，如果定價是以人頭（headcount）驅動的指標為基礎，這會如何影響那項業務？另外，關於中期計畫以及每年平均 40 個基點的利潤率改善。你能否讓我們了解一下，我想，營運槓桿與成本效率各自的貢獻？尤其是你提到過去幾年你們把已實現的成本效率再投資回去。

Yeah. So if I go back a year ago, Ciaran, in the enterprise business and particularly looking -- I mean, so I'm not talking about vocational qualifications. I'm talking about just the small enterprise solutions thing that as Sally said, small numbers can make a difference. That business had already some partnerships. Other bits of Pearson like Pearson View, for example, would have had relationship with Microsoft and AWS, for example.

是的。Ciaran，如果我回到一年前，企業業務，特別是看——我的意思是，我不是在談職業資格（vocational qualifications）。我談的是小型企業解決方案那一塊；正如 Sally 說的，小數字也可能帶來差異。那項業務當時已經有一些合作夥伴關係。Pearson 的其他部分，例如 Pearson View，當時也已經與 Microsoft 和 AWS 等有合作關係。

And so when we looked at that, we were like, okay, how do we ensure that these customers are long-run customers for the business. That's part one. And secondly, how do we ensure meaningful growth upside. And that's what these contracts do. They lock in hundreds of millions of future revenues of pre-existing contracts and put us in a place where those companies want to invest in us and innovating to build the next generation of products, and we added incremental hundreds of millions on top of that, not just with those two, but all the others.

因此當我們檢視那個狀況時，我們想的是：好，我們要如何確保這些客戶成為這項業務的長期客戶？這是第一部分。第二，我們要如何確保有實質的成長上行空間？而這些合約就是在做這件事。它們把既有合約的未來收入（數億規模）鎖定下來，並讓我們處於一個位置：那些公司願意投資我們、並與我們一起創新以打造下一代產品；而且我們在此基礎上又增加了額外數億的增量，不僅是那兩家，還包括其他所有合作夥伴。

And so that is a big difference from where we were a year ago. But like I said, the difference spreads out across ELS and ELL and A&Q because when we set up the enterprise sales team, you'll remember me saying this is Pearson had a lot of what the market in enterprise needed. It just didn't sell to it. So we've created a single sales team to address that enterprise opportunity and Vishaal's team bring all of Pearson, and that's what you're seeing in the outcome there.

所以這與一年前我們所處的位置有很大的不同。但如我所說，這個差異也擴散到 ELS、ELL 和 A&Q，因為當我們成立企業銷售團隊時，你會記得我說過：Pearson 擁有企業市場所需要的許多東西。只是我們沒有把它賣給企業市場。因此我們建立了一個單一銷售團隊來掌握那個企業機會，而 Vishaal 的團隊把 Pearson 的所有能力整合帶進來，這就是你在結果中看到的。

In terms of the pricing framework and the unemployment question, I'm not going to pretend to have a crystal ball on like the future of employment and AI impact. I think -- I do think there is some hysteria coming out of Silicon Valley because of actually how powerful 5.3 Codex and 4.6 Opus are, et cetera, on things like software engineering. So the software engineers are being very noisy about it, I think, for a good reason. And so that raises a lot of questions.

至於定價架構與失業的問題，我不會假裝我有水晶球能預測未來就業與 AI 的影響。我確實認為矽谷出現了一些歇斯底里，因為像 5.3 Codex 和 4.6 Opus 等在軟體工程等領域的能力其實非常強大，等等。所以軟體工程師對此非常吵鬧，我認為是有充分理由的。因此這也引發了很多問題。

In the past, when you get these sorts of dislocations, you end up with people needing skills, needing new skills. And that's the demand that we're seeing. So actually, the tech companies are coming to us for skilling their people like their sellers on their AI, and they're coming to us to come and skill their customers on their new products because in order to justify the hundreds of billions of CapEx, you need people to use the product. And in order for them to use the products, they need to know how to use the products. And that's what we're being asked to help with.

過去當出現這類錯位（dislocations）時，人們最後會需要技能、需要新的技能。而這正是我們看到的需求。所以其實科技公司正來找我們，為他們的人才進行技能培訓，例如讓他們的銷售人員具備 AI 相關技能；他們也來找我們，協助培訓他們的客戶使用新產品，因為要合理化數千億的資本支出（CapEx），你需要有人使用產品。而要讓他們使用產品，他們需要知道如何使用產品。這就是他們請我們協助的事情。

So that's the big drive that we're seeing today. And I think Sally would say, in the past when there were sort of downturns in the economy and so on, Pearson has also had an element of it that is countercyclical and shows up and helps people in those moments.

所以這就是我們今天看到的主要驅動力。而我想 Sally 也會說，過去當經濟出現某種下行等情況時，Pearson 也具有一定的逆週期（countercyclical）特性，會在那些時刻顯現出來並幫助人們。

On the specific financial question you're asking, though, from a pricing point of view, it's not based on headcount with these partnerships. It's on hard commits and dollars.

不過就你問的具體財務問題而言，從定價角度來看，這些合作夥伴關係不是以人頭為基礎。而是以硬性承諾（hard commits）與金額（dollars）為基礎。

Yeah. I mean, Sally you've excellent point. Sally. I mean so when I say the hundreds of millions, I mean, Sally and I talked about like how are we going to explain this to the market because it's a bit involved because it's across several years and it's across the different business units. But as Sally said, that is legally contracted revenue backlog. That's what that is.

是的。我的意思是，Sally，你提得非常好。Sally。我的意思是，當我說到數億時，Sally 和我討論過：我們要如何向市場解釋這件事，因為它有點複雜，因為它跨了好幾年，也跨了不同的事業單位。但正如 Sally 所說，那是具有法律約束力的已簽約收入在手訂單（revenue backlog）。那就是它的本質。

And then on the last point that you're asking about the medium-term 40 bps, how we're thinking about that vis-a-vis operating leverage. So Sally?

然後關於你最後一點提到的中期每年 40 個基點，我們如何在營運槓桿的脈絡下思考它。所以，Sally？

I think I've talked before about the kind of the three components, operating leverage on our mid-single-digit sales growth. And then we've talked about tens of millions of pounds of cost savings. Actually, last year, that was the 200 basis points that Omar referred to. So that gives you an idea of the scale that we're talking about. If you do the math on that, you get to a lot more than 40 basis points.

我之前談過大概三個組成部分：在我們中個位數（mid-single-digit）的銷售成長之上所帶來的營運槓桿。然後我們也談到數千萬英鎊的成本節省。其實去年，那就是 Omar 提到的 200 個基點。所以這能讓你了解我們所談規模的量級。如果你把那個數學算一算，得到的會遠高於 40 個基點。

And then we're reinvesting part of that back into the business in order to drive that future growth. So I think from a scale perspective, you can take the 200 basis points, you can apply the mid-single digits to the top line. And then the balancing figure to get that to 40 basis points is investment. And you'll see that, that's a significant number because we're driving for future growth. We're innovating with our partners to bring new products to the market, and it's really exciting.

然後我們會把其中一部分再投資回業務，以推動未來的成長。所以我認為從規模的角度來看，你可以把那 200 個基點，套用到營收端的中個位數成長。接著，為了把它平衡到 40 個基點，差額就是投資。你會看到，那是一個相當可觀的數字，因為我們是在為未來成長而推進。我們正與合作夥伴一起創新，把新產品帶到市場上，這真的令人振奮。

So first of all, digging back into A&Q in Q1. So you saw 8% organic in Q4. I think if the whole of the New Jersey loss landed in Q1, that would be something like a 6 point drag. So that would still leave you in positive territory. PDRI was already declining in Q4. So were there one-off benefits helping you in Q4? Or is there something else worse in Q1 to get us down to negative?

所以首先，回頭再深入看一下第一季的 A&Q。你在第四季看到 8% 的有機成長。我認為如果新澤西的流失全部落在第一季，那大概會是約 6 個百分點的拖累。所以那樣你仍然會維持在正成長區間。PDRI 在第四季就已經在下滑了。所以第四季是否有一次性的利多在幫你？或者第一季是否有其他更糟的因素，讓我們掉到負成長？

Also digging into Laura's question on Higher Ed a little bit more, Cengage was 10% up in US Higher Ed and 25% McGraw Hill teens. Both of them say they won share of adoptions. They're also much bigger in Inclusive Access and growing faster in Inclusive Access. So this has been the case for a couple of years now. So what's going to make this turnaround and need to catch up when it isn't really happening so far?

另外再更深入一點追問 Laura 關於高等教育的問題，Cengage 在美國高等教育成長 10%，McGraw Hill 則成長 25%（teens）。他們兩家都說自己在採用（adoptions）上拿到了市占。他們在 Inclusive Access 的規模也更大，而且 Inclusive Access 的成長更快。而這種情況已經持續好幾年了。那麼，當目前看起來還沒有真正發生時，什麼會讓這個局面扭轉、並需要追趕上來？

And a third question, can you talk about what kind of enrollment growth for fall 2026 you're baking into your thinking on higher education?

第三個問題，你能談談你們在思考高等教育時，對 2026 年秋季入學人數成長大概預設了什麼樣的幅度嗎？

Yeah. I mean, Nick, I love seeing you. I'm so happy you're here, and I'm excited about the day when you don't ask me tons of questions about Higher Ed. But anyway, we will get into that because I mean it like it's 10% of our operating profit with the English part as well. So I mean, the other 80%, 90% is the rest. I just want to remind everyone. But we're going to absolutely answer those things. So on AMQ, was there anything funny going on in Q4, Sally, that gave us a one-off kicker in AMQ that we should be talking about?

是的。我是說，Nick，見到你我很開心。我很高興你在這裡，也很期待有一天你不再問我一堆關於高等教育的問題。不過無論如何，我們會談，因為連同英文業務在內，它大概占我們營業利益的 10%。所以我的意思是，另外的 80%、90% 是其他業務。我只是想提醒大家。但我們一定會回答那些問題。所以在 AMQ 方面，Sally，第四季 AMQ 有沒有什麼不尋常的狀況，讓我們有一次性的推升，需要特別說明？

No. I mean, of course, we're not a business where you can just go steady, steady, steady, because it's not a volume play. We've got these large long-term contracts and the revenue recognition is based on when you're delivering against those contracts. And if your exam falls in one quarter rather than another, it can mean that things move around. All that's going on in Q1 is the New Jersey contract and then the comp from PDRI is a tricky comp.

沒有。我的意思是，當然，我們不是那種可以一路穩定、穩定、穩定的業務，因為這不是靠量的生意。我們有這些大型的長期合約，而收入認列是依據你在合約下交付的時點。如果你的考試落在某一季而不是另一季，就可能代表一些項目會移動。第一季發生的就只有新澤西合約，然後 PDRI 的比較基期是一個比較棘手的基期。

In Q2, the comp gets easier for PDRI and then we bring these new contracts online. And then we've got the new contracts that we had in Q4 also helping that growth. So just simple as that.

到了第二季，PDRI 的比較基期會變得比較容易，然後我們會把這些新合約上線。此外，我們在第四季拿到的新合約也會對成長有所幫助。所以就是這麼簡單。

Yeah. Thank you. I'm going to say a couple of words about -- my thesis about the Cengage thing. And then Tom, maybe you'll pile on and also talk about enrollment. So I mean, I'm a simple person, Nick.

好的。謝謝。我先說幾句——我對 Cengage 這件事的看法。然後 Tom，也許你可以再補充一下，並談談入學人數。所以我的意思是，我是個很簡單的人，Nick。

There's only two things that matter. Like do you have a good product and can you sell it? Pearson historically -- and I'm going back years, like perhaps we didn't pay enough attention to those two things well enough in the Higher Ed space. That's why on the product side, we're busy converging our platforms into a single modern tech stack and that Tony and his team are doing a wonderful job on that.

只有兩件事重要。就是你有沒有好的產品，以及你能不能把它賣出去。Pearson 過去——我回溯很多年——也許我們在高等教育領域，對這兩件事的重視不夠。所以在產品端，我們正忙著把平台整合到單一、現代化的技術堆疊上，而 Tony 和他的團隊在這方面做得非常出色。

So the product, I would say, was lagging, and now it's advancing really quickly. The feature functionality is incredibly rich and professors love our stuff. And some of the underlying tech stack was a bit older and like we're dealing with that. And so that's some of what you've heard about.

所以我會說，產品過去是落後的，但現在進展非常快。功能特性非常豐富，教授們很喜歡我們的內容。而底層的技術堆疊有一部分比較老舊，我們正在處理這件事。所以這就是你們聽到的一部分內容。

On the sales side, again, Tom and the team have modernized that, and I actually am very happy with how that performs. But perhaps we were a bit slow on the uptake on inclusive access. So I think we closed out the year at something like 44% of our revenues are in that space. I think the top -- the front run is at 60%. So for me, it's just all upside, like we know what to do.

在銷售端，同樣地，Tom 和團隊也把它現代化了，我其實對它的表現很滿意。但也許我們在 Inclusive Access 的導入上反應稍慢。所以我想我們在年底時，大概有 44% 的營收是在那個領域。我認為領先者——跑在最前面的——是 60%。所以對我來說，這完全是上行空間，因為我們知道該怎麼做。

But Tom, if you can comment on that and then please, a little bit on the enrollments as well.

不過 Tom，如果你能對此評論一下，然後也請談一點入學人數。

Yeah, sure. So I mean, I think the old market share question is a chestnut that we're kind of expecting. It's very simple. We think about adoption market share and so we're not particularly focused on NPI for a couple of reasons. One, it only measures half the market.

好的，當然。所以我的意思是，我想那個老掉牙的市占問題，我們大概也預期會被問到。這很簡單。我們看的是採用（adoption）市占，所以我們不會特別聚焦在 NPI，原因有幾個。第一，它只衡量了市場的一半。

So you can miss kind of important things like OER and what's happening there. Two, it doesn't really measure what professors are actually doing on an underlying basis in terms of adoptions. So actually, we're focused on adoption share. And last year, we were up. This year, we were flat. And we'll tell you when we're up and we'll tell you when we're down and we'll tell you when we're flat. So we're kind of fairly straightforward there.

所以你可能會漏掉一些重要的事情，例如 OER 以及那邊正在發生什麼。第二，它並沒有真正衡量教授在採用層面上實際在做什麼。所以其實我們聚焦的是採用市占。去年我們是上升的。今年我們是持平。我們會在上升時告訴你、在下降時告訴你、在持平時也會告訴你。所以我們在這方面相當直接。

I think on Inclusive Access, as Omar touched on, there's more we can do. So we've been very focused on being more aggressive with our Inclusive Access strategy for 2026. We're looking forward to seeing how that plays out in the fall. And then I think we've also been fairly candid about some of the product areas of friction in the past, right? So when I think I joined, we had 170 different ways to integrate with an LMS.

我想在 Inclusive Access 方面，如 Omar 提到的，我們還有更多可以做。所以我們一直非常專注於在 2026 年採取更積極的 Inclusive Access 策略。我們很期待看看它在秋季會如何展開。然後我想我們過去也相當坦率地談到一些產品端的摩擦點，對吧？所以當我加入時，我們有 170 種不同的方式可以與 LMS 整合。

That's kind of difficult to manage if you're a sales team or if you're a customer support team. And so we've simplified that down to less than 10, and we're continuing to push on things like that. They make a difference to the professor experience, which is why we've had some of those points of friction and challenge with things like inclusive access, but there's been a lot of focus there. And then on enrollments, I think for the year, we're broadly flat. We're expecting it to be up in the first half and slightly down in the second half.

如果你是銷售團隊或客戶支援團隊，這其實很難管理。所以我們已把它簡化到不到 10 種，而且我們還在持續推進這類事情。這些會影響教授的使用體驗，這也是為什麼我們在 Inclusive Access 等方面曾有一些摩擦點與挑戰，但我們已投入很多心力在那裡。至於入學人數，我想就全年而言，我們大致持平。我們預期上半年會上升，而下半年會小幅下降。

So if you put all of that together, that's how we get there. So that's kind of our thinking there. And actually, just to add, I think from a product perspective, when you saw the AI in those demos earlier, that AI is out there in our sellers' hands today and it's winning new business and it's taking market share. And we're incredibly excited about our product lineup because I think the work that Tony and the team have done has been fantastic in terms of really putting leading-edge AI into our products, and that's resonating with faculty and students.

所以把這些全部綜合起來，我們就是這樣達成的。這大概就是我們在這方面的思考。另外補充一點，從產品角度來看，先前那些示範中你看到的 AI，如今已經在我們銷售團隊的手上投入使用，正在贏得新業務並搶占市佔。我們對產品組合感到非常興奮，因為我認為 Tony 和團隊所做的工作非常出色，真正把最前沿的 AI 導入我們的產品，而這也正在引起教師與學生的共鳴。

And I think what people care most about is that proximity to the faculty and how we're helping students learn and you saw some beautiful statistics there about increases in active reading, learning. With your faculty, that's kind of what -- that's kind of music to your ears.

我認為大家最在意的是與教師的貼近程度，以及我們如何幫助學生學習；你也看到一些很漂亮的統計數據，顯示主動閱讀、學習都有所提升。對你們的教師而言，這就是——這就是你最愛聽的。

I mean the thing I'm just connecting a couple of dots of some of what you're saying is not long ago, people said, oh, EdTech is going to kill companies like Pearson. And then -- and also OER is going to kill companies like Pearson. Those things flatline for reasons that are not always extremely evident. OER is peer-reviewed high-quality content generated by a professor and put out for free. But it needs to be maintained, aligned to the curriculum, aligned to the assessments. It needs to be integrated with all of the LMSs and SISs, all these things. And so that's too much for a typical professor to just do, so it doesn't happen.

我的意思是，我只是把你所說的一些點連起來：不久之前，人們還說，喔，教育科技（EdTech）會殺死像 Pearson 這樣的公司。然後——還有人說 OER 也會殺死像 Pearson 這樣的公司。但這些事情後來都趨於平坦，原因並不總是非常明顯。OER 是由教授產出、經同儕審查的高品質內容，並免費提供。但它需要維護、需要與課綱對齊、需要與評量對齊。它還需要與所有 LMS 和 SIS 整合，還有這些事情。所以對一般教授來說，這些工作量太大，無法單靠自己完成，因此就不會發生。

And so the institutions -- particularly in this world of AI where a lot of nonsense is getting published, they come back to the trusted authorities and the people that they believe in and trust and that's groups like Pearson. So I think we're in good shape.

因此各機構——尤其在這個 AI 時代，很多胡說八道的內容被發表出來——會回到他們信任的權威與他們相信並信任的人，而這些就是像 Pearson 這樣的團體。所以我認為我們的狀況很好。

Anyone else?

還有其他人嗎？

We've got one question on the line. If there's no other questions --

線上有一個問題。如果沒有其他問題--

Sure.

當然。

(Operator Instructions) Steve Liechti, Deutsche Numis.

(接線員指示) Steve Liechti，Deutsche Numis。

I've got a couple. Just on A&Q, can you remind us or scale the size of the big client pause that you had in the first half of last year? And remind us, was that in the first quarter or the second quarter? And is that meaningful to sort of the numbers the way that they sort of flow through in the in the quarters? That's the first question.

我有幾個問題。先問 A&Q：能否提醒我們，去年上半年你們遇到的大客戶暫停的規模大概有多大？另外提醒一下，那是在第一季還是第二季？而且就季度之間的流入方式來看，這對數字是否有顯著影響？這是第一個問題。

Second question is on Enterprise Learning, I know you referred to it as being small within the mix previously. Can you just give us a rough figure or remind us within that ELS overall revenue of EUR 282 million, what that number is that would be Enterprise Learning, just to help us scale that. And you commented about the 20% growth in the fourth quarter of last year. Just how good is your line of sight to that -- to equate to that 20% through to the current year, ie, have you got the line of sight to say 20% looks realistic for 2026?

第二個問題是關於 Enterprise Learning。我知道你之前提到它在組合中占比很小。能否給我們一個大概數字，或提醒我們在 ELS 總營收 2.82 億歐元中，Enterprise Learning 大概是多少，幫助我們掌握規模？你也提到去年第四季成長 20%。你們對於把這個 20% 延續到今年的可見度有多高——也就是說，你們是否有足夠把握認為 2026 年 20% 看起來是可實現的？

Okay. Thank you very much, Steve. I appreciate that. So on A&Q, I think people will remember, we had a bit of a snafu with a Middle Eastern customer around payment terms that ended up causing a pause and then a subsequent reengagement. So do you want to comment on the materiality of that in the quarter?

好的。非常感謝你，Steve。我很感激。關於 A&Q，我想大家會記得，我們曾在付款條款上與一位中東客戶出現一些小插曲，導致暫停，之後又重新合作。所以你要不要評論一下這在該季度的重大性？

Yeah. So that contract was still running for most of Q1. It was Q2 when it paused and it went back online in Q3.

好的。那份合約在第一季的大部分時間仍在執行。是在第二季暫停，並在第三季重新上線。

Okay. So it won't have a relevant flow for Q1, Q2, is what you're?

好的。所以它對第一季、第二季不會有相關的流入影響，是你要表達的嗎？

It won't for Q1. It won't for Q2 -- subsequently.

第一季不會。第二季——之後也不會。

And then on ELS, do we segment out the ES component?

那關於 ELS，我們有把 ES 的組成部分拆分出來嗎？

No, we don't, but it's kind of 10%, 20% would be the way to think about it.

沒有，我們沒有，但大概可以用 10% 到 20% 來理解。

There you go, Steve. You've got a clue there. And then in terms of the 20% growth rate, I mean, the -- we've been careful with guiding because what I'm saying -- I think what we're saying to you, Steve, is the future revenues around ES and the other components where the enterprise deals are covering, we see the -- if you like, say, the annual flow of contracts that as previously committed. The exact amount of revenue that you're going to recognize in a given quarter, a little bit depends on the product flow that happens. And so we are not being too direct about that at this point.

就是這樣，Steve。你已經得到一個線索了。至於 20% 的成長率，我的意思是——我們在提供指引時一直很謹慎，因為我所說的——我想我們要對你說的是，Steve，關於 ES 以及其他企業交易所涵蓋的組成部分的未來收入，我們看得到——如果你願意，可以說是先前已承諾的年度合約流量。但你在某一季度會認列的確切收入金額，多少會取決於產品交付/上線的節奏。因此我們目前不會把話說得太死。

But -- so I think I'm very proud of what Vishaal and the team have done because they basically built a team that did not exist just over a year ago, engage with these customers and have engaged these deep multiyear, quite profound relationships, which will benefit them and benefit us. But the exact way it flows quarter-to-quarter in terms of revenue growth, we're not probably going to talk about at this point.

不過——我對 Vishaal 和團隊所做的事情非常自豪，因為他們基本上在一年多前建立了一支原本不存在的團隊，去與這些客戶接觸，並建立了這些深入的多年期、相當深厚的合作關係，這將使客戶受益，也讓我們受益。但就營收成長在季度之間如何流動的精確方式而言，我們此刻大概不會談。

We have no further questions on the phone line. So I'd like to hand back to the room.

電話線上沒有其他問題了。所以我想把時間交回現場。

Yeah, we've got one question from Alex at AlphaValue. Can you elaborate on the product impairment? How many platforms did you have before the convergence? And how -- and was it related to past acquisitions?

好的，我們有一個來自 AlphaValue 的 Alex 的問題。你能否進一步說明產品減損？在整合（convergence）之前你們有多少個平台？以及——這是否與過去的併購有關？

Okay. Tony, over to you.

好的。Tony，交給你。

Yeah. So it's specifically within the Higher Ed segment, and we had four courseware platforms, which we're converging down to one so that we have better efficiency. And you can see in the video, the AI study tools then work great across the one platform. And then we have a high degree of confidence that we then have the right setup moving forward from a product perspective as well as the way it's played out in the P&L.

好的。這是特別發生在高等教育（Higher Ed）部門，我們原本有四個課程軟體（courseware）平台，現在正整併成一個，以提升效率。你可以在影片中看到，AI 學習工具在單一平台上就能運作得非常好。而且我們對於接下來在產品面以及它在損益表（P&L）上的呈現方式，都非常有信心，認為這會是正確的配置。

Perfect. Thank you, Tony. And Alex, thanks for the question. Mr. Shore, does that cover us?

很好。謝謝你，Tony。也謝謝 Alex 的提問。Shore 先生，這樣就可以了嗎？

That covers us.

可以了。

Okay. Well, ladies and gentlemen, thank you. Thank you for being with us and giving us your time. We appreciate it. We appreciate your interest in Pearson.

好的。各位女士先生，謝謝。謝謝各位與我們同在並撥冗參與。我們非常感謝。也感謝各位對 Pearson 的關注。

Do not miss the chance to go across to the innovation studio and see some of these products and play with them and get a sense of what Pearson is building. I mean I love the chart that we showed about the rate of innovation increases we're releasing more and more products each year. You can expect that of this company going forward. Over to you. Thanks. See you soon.

別錯過到創新工作室看看這些產品、親自操作體驗的機會，感受 Pearson 正在打造什麼。我的意思是，我很喜歡我們展示的那張圖表，顯示創新速度的提升——我們每年推出的產品越來越多。未來你可以期待這家公司持續如此。交給你了。謝謝。很快再見。