LONDON, July 7 (Reuters) - Penguin Books, a division of Pearson, is to cut about 100 jobs, or 10 percent of its British staff, as part of a restructuring, it said in a statement on Tuesday.
Pearson, which is also the world's biggest educational publisher and owns the Financial Times, said the cuts were not a direct response to the recession but part of a structural effort to position the business for the future.
Penguin said it would cut the number of titles and reduce costs at Dorling Kindersley and Rough Guides in response to long-term pressure on reference publishing, and would increase its emphasis on digital activities.
It also made a number of management changes in Britain.
"Digital technology is altering the shape of book publishing, creating tremendous new opportunities but also putting unprecedented pressure on our costs and our traditional ways of working," Penguin Group chairman and chief executive John Makinson said in a statement.
Pearson shares rose 0.4 percent to 588.38 pence by 1254 GMT, outperforming a 0.3 percent-weaker European media index.
Penguin employed 4,112 people worldwide on average in 2008. Its underlying sales grew 3 percent to 925 million pounds ($1.5 billion) in 2008, 19 percent of Pearson's total sales, and adjusted operating profit rose 4 percent to 93 million pounds. ($1=.6176 Pound) (Reporting by Georgina Prodhan; Editing by Jon Loades-Carter)