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Pearson continues to face problems after investors wiped more than £2bn, around 25%, from the company’s market value last month. Latest news includes the announcement that the company recently lost testing contracts in Texas and Ohio, worth £100m and a recently-completed two-year restructuring programme, costing £180m, was branded “a missed opportunity” and “more of a reshuffle than a fundamental rethink” by analysts. Furthermore, Pearson has played down another structural threat: the rise in textbook rentals. The proportion of college students renting at least one book has doubled since 2011 to about 40%, according to the National Association of College Stores. Lastly, two of South Africa’s largest provinces are yet to place any textbook orders for the new school year, which starts in January, leading to an expectation that textbook sales could be down as much as 40% compared to last year.