NEW YORK (Reuters) – Thomson Reuters on Tuesday raised its revenue forecast for 2022 after beating first-quarter expectations, thanks to strong growth in its core legal, tax, accounting and corporate businesses.
The group, which also owns Reuters News, said while the past quarter was encouraging, the pandemic, geopolitical risks and any deterioration in the economy could hamper its ability to meet its targets.
Thomson Reuters, which also owns the legal database Westlaw and the tax and accounting service Checkpoint, announced adjusted earnings of 66 cents (0.62 euros) per share, 5 cents above Wall Street expectations.
Total revenue increased by 5.5% to $1.67 billion (€1.58 billion), just above expectations, and a 5.5% increase is expected this year, compared to an earlier estimate of about 5%.
“We’re off to a great start in 2022,” CEO Steve Hasker said. “We’re a bit ahead of what we expected in terms of our revenue growth trajectory. We’re on track and executing our change agenda.”
Thomson Reuters is completing a two-year restructuring aimed at transforming itself from a holding company to a fully operational company, and from a content provider to a content-focused technology company. The company has declared that 80% of its revenue is recurring, which insulates it to some extent from unpredictable economic fluctuations.
Its three main divisions – Legal Professionals, Tax & Accounting Professionals and Corporates – each recorded an increase in their quarterly sales, with growth of 11% in particular in tax activity. The turnover of Reuters News increased for its part by 9%.
U.S.-listed Thomson Reuters stock has fallen about 20% this year, compared with a 10% decline for the S&P 500.
(Report Ken Li and Nick Zieminski New York, French version Augustin Turpin, told by Jean-Michel Blot)
by Kenneth Li and Nick Zieminski