Refinitiv Subscription Backs Thomson Reuters’ Revenue in Q1

Thomson Reuters (NYSE: TRI) has reported its financial metrics for the first ‎quarter ending Mach 31, 2019, which showed continued progress across key areas and performance metrics, according to a Thomson Reuters statement.

For Q1 2019, Thomson Reuters revealed that revenues were mostly higher ‎when weighed against their 2018 equivalent, coming in at $1.48 billion, a ‎gain of eight percent year-on-year from $1.37 billion in the same period a year back.

The global information provider attributed the higher revenues to the proceeds paid by Refinitiv for providing news and editorial content, and also to higher recurring revenues across other customer segments. Overall, organic revenue growth was three percent, driven by increased recurring proceeds, which comprised 76 percent of total revenues.

In terms of Thomson Reuters’ operating profits for Q1 2019, the figure ‎reflected a flat performance, having yielded a profit of $274 million, up two percent year-on-year from $268 million in Q1 ‎‎2018. ‎

Business sales back revenues

A notable area of strength for the quarter was Thomson Reuters’ diluted ‎earnings per share (EPS), which rose to $0.23 in the three months through March 2019 compared to a loss of $0.48 in Q1 2018. ‎

The New York-headquartered organization attributed the increase primarily ‎to the benefits from other operating gains, which included those generated from the sales of several small businesses.

Excluding first-quarter one-off events, adjusted EPS was $0.36 compared to $0.28 per share in the prior-year ‎period.‎ In addition, adjusted EBITDA decreased eight percent and the margin decreased to 26.7 percent, primarily due to costs and investments following the separation of the Financial & Risk (F&R) business to create Refinitiv.

Jim Smith, CEO of Thomson Reuters, ‎commented: “The trajectory of the business continued to improve on the progress made last year. Revenue growth is tracking to our outlook. Recurring revenue growth is the strongest we have seen in several years. Net sales are strong and our book of business continues to grow. Our transformation initiatives are on track and we are seeing good underlying margin improvement. We remain confident in our ability to achieve our 2019 and 2020 targets.”