REG - Pearson PLC - Pearson Completes Acquisition of PDRI

PearsonAnnouncement

23/03/2023 07:15

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RNS Number : 9077T  Pearson PLC  23 March 2023

Pearson Completes Acquisition of Workforce Assessment Provider, PDRI

 

Acquisition to significantly expand Pearson's services to U.S. Federal
Government

 

LONDON - 23 March 2023 - Pearson today announces it has completed the
acquisition of Personnel Decisions Research Institutes, LLC ('PDRI'), a
trusted provider of workforce assessment services. PDRI has significant
expertise in providing assessment solutions to the U.S. federal government,
one of the largest employers in the U.S. with more than 4 million employees.
This acquisition further expands Pearson's portfolio, accelerating the
Company's strategy to capture new market opportunities and grow its presence
with large employers. PDRI will now operate under the 'PDRI by Pearson' brand
name.

 

Founded in 1975, PDRI has built a strong reputation for delivering quality
talent assessments, including tailored assessments to support hiring practices
for U.S. federal government agencies. The acquisition significantly expands
Pearson's services to U.S. federal agencies, including through PDRI's
partnership with the Office of Personnel Management to deliver the USA Hire
platform. The USA Hire platform serves more than 40 agencies and is utilised
to assess more than 500,000 applicants annually.

 

PDRI will join Pearson's Assessment & Qualifications division. Within this
division, Pearson and PDRI already have an established, strong working
relationship, partnering to deliver assessments to federal jobseekers at
Pearson VUE test centers. This acquisition unlocks synergies between Pearson
and PDRI, whilst bringing new capabilities for Pearson to explore as the
company grows its long-standing enterprise learning presence.

 

The consideration for PDRI represents an enterprise value of $190m, which has
been funded from Pearson's existing cash and available liquidity. PDRI has a
highly attractive financial profile with an impressive revenue growth
opportunity, good margins and strong cash flow conversion. In the year ending
December 2021, PDRI recognised revenues of $33m and delivered EBITDA CAGR of
12% from 2018-2021. The acquisition will be accretive to growth and margins
for our Assessment & Qualifications division, as well as driving returns
for shareholders.

 

Andy Bird, Chief Executive of Pearson, said: "We are pleased to have completed
the acquisition of PDRI, which provides an excellent opportunity to expand our
reach in this strategically important market for Pearson and our assessments
business. Pearson and PDRI share a culture and commitment of serving trusted,
secure, and innovative assessment solutions to major employers and millions of
people looking to establish and grow their careers. We look forward to
welcoming the PDRI team to Pearson and together we will be fully focused on
executing against the growth opportunity ahead."

 

Elaine Pulakos, Chief Executive Officer of PDRI said: "We are excited to be
joining Pearson and look forward to becoming part of the growth strategy.
Pearson has a reputation for quality in the assessments field and combined
with our proven assessment and talent solutions, we see significant
opportunity to further improve our products and reach more customers
collectively. Our attention is now firmly directed towards delivering on our
growth ambitions."

 

 

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Contacts:

Investor Relations

Jo Russell +44 (0) 7785 451 266 / James Caddy +44 (0) 7825 948 218 / Gemma
Terry +44 (0) 7841 363 216

Teneo

Charlie Armitstead +44 (0) 7703 330 269

 

About Pearson

At Pearson, our purpose is simple: to add life to a lifetime of learning. We
believe that every learning opportunity is a chance for a personal
breakthrough. That's why our c.20,000 Pearson employees are committed to
creating vibrant and enriching learning experiences designed for real-life
impact. We are the world's leading learning company, serving customers in most
countries and territories around the world with digital content, assessments,
qualifications, and data. For us, learning isn't just what we do. It's who we
are. Visit us at https://plc.pearson.com/en-GB (https://plc.pearson.com/en-GB)
.

 

About PDRI

Since 1975, PDRI has built a global reputation of excellence by designing,
developing and implementing high-quality, innovative talent management
solutions that adhere to the highest principles of professional practice.
PDRI's suite of integrated talent management solutions helps government and
commercial clients hire, train, develop, manage and motivate high-performance
organizations. For more information visit www.pdri.com.

 

Forward looking statements: Except for the historical information contained
herein, the matters discussed in this statement include forward-looking
statements. In particular, all statements that express forecasts, expectations
and projections with respect to future matters, including trends in results of
operations, margins, growth rates, overall market trends, the impact of
interest or exchange rates, the availability of financing, anticipated cost
savings and synergies and the execution of Pearson's strategy, are
forward-looking statements. By their nature, forward-looking statements
involve risks and uncertainties because they relate to events and depend on
circumstances that will occur in future. They are based on numerous
assumptions regarding Pearson's present and future business strategies and the
environment in which it will operate in the future. There are a number of
factors which could cause actual results and developments to differ materially
from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking factors set out in
Pearson's latest annual report and accounts, which can be found on its website
(www.pearsonplc.com (http://www.pearsonplc.com) ). Any forward-looking
statements speak only as of the date they are made, and Pearson gives no
undertaking to update forward-looking statements to reflect any changes in its
expectations with regard thereto or any changes to events, conditions or
circumstances on which any such statement is based. Readers are cautioned not
to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements.

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