Shares in Thomson Reuters (TRI) were up around 3.5% in trading overnight after the business information services provider reported fiscal fourth-quarter 2024 revenue growth of 5% year-on-year to $1.909 billion, in line with analyst consensus estimate of $1.908 billion.
Driven by 8% growth in recurring revenues (83% of total revenues), organic revenues increased by 5%. However, this was partly offset by a 4% fall in transaction revenues and a decline in Global Print.
Overall, the companies' Big 3 segments, Legal Professionals, Corporates, and Tax & Accounting Professionals, represent over 80% of total revenue, reported organic revenue growth of 8%.
Looking ahead to 2025, the company is focused on investing in content-driven technology guided by organic revenue growth of 7%- 7.5% (versus actual 7% growth in fiscal 2024) and an adjusted earnings margin of around 39% (versus 38.2% in fiscal 2024).
During the reporting period the company completed the monetisation of its London Stock Exchange Group stake and executed several strategic acquisitions.
“2024 marked important progress at Thomson Reuters,” said Steve Hasker, president and CEO of Thomson Reuters.
“We continue to deliver on the ambitious innovation roadmap we shared at our 2024 investor day, highlighted by the launch of new product capabilities and enhancements throughout our portfolio, said Hasker.
“We remain focused on allocating capital to drive long-term shareholder value creation. In 2024, we continued to return capital to shareholders, completed the monetization of our London Stock Exchange Group stake and executed several strategic acquisitions, resulting in a stronger and more strategically aligned portfolio with improved growth prospects.”
Noteworthy metrics in today’s quarterly update include:
• Legal Professionals' revenue grew by 4% year on year (Y/Y) to $729 million.
• Corporates' revenue rose 14% Y/Y to $458 million.
• Tax & Accounting Professionals' revenue increased 6% Y/Y to $366 million.
• Reuters News revenue declined 1% Y/Y to $218 million.
• Global Print revenue fell 6% Y/Y to $144 million.
• Adjusted earnings margin declined 130 bps to 37.6%.
• Free cash flow of $425 million with $1.97 billion in cash and equivalents as of 31 December.
The company announced a 10% or $0.22 per share annualised increase in the dividend to $2.38 per common share.
A quarterly dividend of $0.595 per share is payable on March 10, 2025 to common shareholders of record as of February 20, 2025.
As of 4 February, 2025, Thomson Reuters had approximately 450.1 million common shares outstanding.
At the time of writing, Thomson Reuters shares were at US$176.90, with a market cap of approximately $79.92 billion.
