UPDATE 2-Pearson ups full-year education sales forecast

(Recasts, adds analyst comments, more detail, shares)

By Gavin Haycock

LONDON, Oct 22 (Reuters) - Publisher Pearson has raised its full-year sales forecast for its professional education business and said third-quarter trading had been strong across the group, particularly in the United States.

Analysts reacted positively to the update on third-quarter and nine-month trading and an upbeat outlook for education published on Monday, given there had been concerns about Pearson's exposure to a weakening U.S economy. Pearson (PSON.L) generates around two-thirds of its sales in the United States.

"Whilst not completely immune from a downturn, we remain confident the education assets will be relatively resilient and the results today should reassure the market," said UBS.

Shares in Pearson were up 0.5 percent at 769 pence at 0826 GMT while the FTSE 100 .FTSE was more than 1 percent lower.

Pearson, which also publishes Penguin books and the Financial Times newspaper, raised its projection for full-year sales growth in its professional education division to 8 to 10 percent from 5 to 7 percent previously.

The unit's sales rose 12 percent in the nine months and further margin improvement is anticipated, Pearson said, amid ongoing strong demand for its professional certifications in areas such as graduate management, nursing and driving tests.

At a group level, Pearson said trading was strong in the third quarter and that underlying sales and operating profit rose 6 and 20 percent respectively over the first nine months.

The company said its headline sales rose 4 percent with operating profit up 17 percent in the same period.

"We still have a lot of trading ahead of us, but every part of the company is doing well," Pearson Chief Executive Marjorie Scardino said in a statement.

She said Pearson was benefiting from rapid take-up of its learning technologies, rises in audience and advertising at the Financial Times and efficiency gains within Penguin.

EPS UPGRADES ANTICIPATED

Numis Securities said it sees modest upside to its full-year pretax profit and earnings per share estimates. "With a yield of over 4 percent we regard Pearson as attractive in an uncertain market environment," Numis said in a research note.

ABN said it expects to raise its full-year EPS forecast to 44 pence from 43p.