Pearson says cost cuts to boost savings, sees lower FY profit

(Reuters) - British education publisher Pearson said on Wednesday it expects higher savings from its cost cutting plan, while forecasting a decline in adjusted operating profit for 2018.

The company said it now expects annual cost savings to be higher than 330 million pounds ($424.31 million) by the end of 2019. It had previously forecast cutting about 300 million pounds in costs every year between 2017 and 2020.

Pearson, which has cut jobs and sold off assets to simplify its structure and focus on virtual schools and online courses, said it expects adjusted operating profit of 540 million pounds to 545 million pounds for 2018, below the 576 million pounds it reported in 2017.

($1 = 0.7777 pounds)

(Reporting by Arathy S Nair and Tanishaa Nadkar in Bengaluru; Editing by Bernard Orr)