NEW YORK - Thomson Reuters Corp reported higher sales and operating profit in the fourth quarter, helped by cost cuts and gains on divestitures.
The news and information company reported adjusted earnings of 73 cents per share. It was not immediately clear if that was compared to analyst forecasts for 65 cents.
Total revenues rose by 3% to $1.76 billion in the quarter, matching expectations, according to estimates from Refinitiv. The sales growth was 2 percentage points off the strong dollar. Sales growth was reduced by a factor of 1 point.
Thomson Reuters, which owns the Westlaw legal database and the Checkpoint tax and accounting service, said four of its five business segments showed higher sales and operating profit, but those were lower in the Global Print business.
It completed its two-year Change program to save costs. After it completes a $2 billion share repurchase program in the second quarter, the company said it planned to return $2 billion in capital to shareholders and possibly conduct a share stock split.
In the fourth quarter, Thomson Reuters said it would buy SurePrep LLC, a U.S.-based provider of tax automation software and services, for $500 million in cash. It said that deal was completed at the beginning of January.