Thomson Reuters profit tops Wall Street forecasts

[May 08, 2019]   NEW YORK (Reuters) - Thomson Reuters Corp on Wednesday reported stronger-than-expected quarterly profit, boosted by strong demand for information it sells to legal professionals, and reaffirmed its forecast for the rest of this year and 2020.

The news and information provider and parent of Reuters News reported earnings excluding special items of 36 cents per share, compared with 28 cents per share a year ago, helped by lower interest expenses and stock repurchases.

That beat the average analyst estimate of 25 cents, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

First-quarter revenue rose 8 percent from a year ago to $1.49 billion, slightly below analysts' average estimate of $1.5 billion.

The company's Toronto-listed shares have jumped 60 percent over the last 12 months, hitting an all-time high of C$83.83 on May 1.

Currency exchange rates weighed on sales across the company's operations. Excluding that effect, each of the company's units reported higher revenue. The largest business, Legal Professionals, reported a 3-percent rise in sales in constant currency and a 19-percent jump in adjusted earnings.

"What’s driving our business is the ever-increasing regulatory environment that our clients have to deal with and needs for efficiencies and tools to help our professional customers do their job," Chief Executive Jim Smith said in an interview.

Asked for an update on the company's acquisitions strategy, Smith said, "We are still hunting. We are actively exploring the market."

The Thomson Reuters logo is seen on the company building in Times Square, New York October 29, 2013. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri

Last year, Thomson Reuters sold a 55-percent stake in its Financial & Risk (F&R) unit, which provides data and news primarily to financial customers, to private equity firm Blackstone Group LP. The deal valued the F&R unit, now a standalone business called Refinitiv, at about $20 billion.

Thomson Reuters, controlled by Canada's Thomson family, has said it set aside $2 billion of the $17 billion proceeds from the Blackstone deal to make purchases to help expand its Legal, Tax & Accounting and Corporates businesses.

Revenue from Reuters News more than doubled to $155 million in the latest quarter, due to a 30-year agreement for Reuters to supply news and editorial content to Refinitiv, which began in the fourth quarter of 2018.

Thomson Reuters in November appointed Michael Friedenberg as president of Reuters News. The senior leadership team just reviewed Friedenberg's strategy and will share it with the board in June, Smith said in the interview.

For 2019, the company repeated its forecast for revenue growth of 7% to 8.5% before the effect of currency exchange rates and sales growth of about half that pace in 2020.

(Additional reporting by Ken Li; Writing by Nick Zieminski in New York; Editing by Bill Rigby)

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