TORONTO, Nov. 5, 2024 /CNW/ -- Thomson Reuters (TSX/NYSE: TRI) today reported results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2024:

• Good revenue momentum continued in the third quarter
  • Total company revenues up 8%, organic revenues up 7%
    • Organic revenues up 9% for the "Big 3" segments (Legal Professionals, Corporates and Tax & Accounting Professionals)
• Raised total company full-year organic revenue growth outlook to approximately 7%
  • Raised organic revenue growth outlook for "Big 3" to approximately 8.5%
• Announced agreement to sell its FindLaw business

"We saw good momentum continue in the third quarter, with revenue and margins moderately ahead of our expectations" said Steve Hasker, President and CEO of Thomson Reuters.

"We remain focused on driving innovation across our portfolio and markets to best serve our customers, demonstrated by our investment in AI now increasing to more than $200 million in 2024. We continue to make progress against our "Build, Partner, Buy" strategy, including launching several new AI product capabilities and making exciting enhancements to CoCounsel, our professional-grade GenAI assistant. In addition, we have closed on the strategic acquisitions of Safe Sign Technologies and Materia, which complement our product roadmap and further accelerate our provision of GenAI tools for professionals."

Mr. Hasker added, "As we look ahead, we are committed to taking a balanced capital allocation approach, focusing on delivering sustained value creation through a long-term investment strategy."

Consolidated Financial Highlights - Three Months Ended September 30

Revenues increased 8%, driven by growth in recurring and transactions revenues. Acquisitions had a 1% positive impact and foreign currency had a slightly negative impact on revenue growth.   

• Organic revenues increased 7%, driven by 8% growth in recurring revenues (84% of total revenues) and 12% growth in transactions revenues. Global Print revenues decreased 6% organically.
• The company's "Big 3" segments reported organic revenue growth of 9% and collectively comprised 81% of total revenues.

Operating profit decreased 6% as higher revenues were more than offset by higher costs which included growth investments and the impact of acquisitions.    

• Adjusted EBITDA decreased 4% primarily due to the same factors that impacted operating profit. The related margin decreased to 35.3% from 39.6% in the prior-year period. Foreign currency had a 20 basis points positive impact on the year-over-year change in adjusted EBITDA margin.

Diluted EPS decreased to $0.67 compared to $0.80 in the prior-year period primarily reflecting higher tax expense, as the prior-year period included the release of certain tax reserves.

• Adjusted EPS, which excludes the release of certain tax reserves, as well as other adjustments, decreased to $0.80 per share from $0.82 per share in the prior-year period as lower adjusted EBITDA and higher income taxes more than offset lower interest expense.

Net cash provided by operating activities increased by $82 million in the third quarter, primarily due to certain component changes in working capital.

• Free cash flow increased $62 million primarily due to the increase in cash flow from operating activities.  

Highlights by Customer Segment – Three Months Ended September 30

Unless otherwise noted, all revenue growth comparisons by customer segment in this news release are at constant currency (or exclude the impact of foreign currency) as Thomson Reuters believes this provides the best basis to measure their performance.

Legal Professionals

Revenues increased 8% to $745 million and included a positive impact from acquisitions. Organic revenue growth was 7%.

• Recurring revenues increased 9% (97% of total, 8% organic). Organic growth was primarily driven by Westlaw, CoCounsel, Practical Law and the segment's international businesses.
• Transactions revenues decreased 11% (3% of total, all organic).

Adjusted EBITDA decreased 1% to $334 million.

• The margin decreased to 44.9% from 49.1% primarily driven by higher investments.

Corporates

Revenues increased 12% to $437 million, including the acquisition impact of Pagero. Organic revenue growth was 10%.

• Recurring revenues increased 12% (89% of total, 9% organic). Organic growth was primarily driven by Practical Law, Direct and Indirect Tax, Clear and the segment's international businesses.
• Transactions revenues increased 12% (11% of total, 13% organic) driven primarily by Trust, Direct Tax and segment's international businesses.

Adjusted EBITDA decreased 1% to $162 million.

• The margin decreased to 36.8% from 41.9%, primarily driven by the Pagero acquisition and higher investments.

Tax & Accounting Professionals

Revenues increased 11% to $221 million. Organic revenue growth was 10%.

• Recurring revenues increased 10% (77% of total, all organic). Organic growth was driven by the segment's Latin America business and UltraTax products.
• Transactions revenues increased 16% (23% of total, 13% organic) primarily due to UltraTax, Confirmation and the segment's international businesses.

Adjusted EBITDA decreased 7% to $59 million.

• The margin decreased to 26.8% from 31.2%, primarily driven by higher investments.

The Tax & Accounting Professionals segment is the company's most seasonal business with approximately 60% of full-year revenues typically generated in the first and fourth quarters. As a result, the margin performance of this segment has been generally higher in the first and fourth quarters as costs are typically incurred in a more linear fashion throughout the year.

Reuters News

Revenues of $199 million increased 10% (8% organic) which included a positive impact from acquisitions. Organic revenue growth was driven primarily by Generative AI related content licensing revenue that was largely transactional in nature and by a contractual price increase from our news agreement with the Data & Analytics business of LSEG.

Adjusted EBITDA increased 10% to $40 million driven by higher revenues.

Global Print

Revenues of $128 million decreased 6%, all organic, driven in part by the migration of customers from a Global Print product to Westlaw.

Adjusted EBITDA decreased 22% to $43 million.

• The margin decreased to 33.1% from 39.6% primarily due to lower revenues.

Corporate Costs

Corporate costs were $29 million compared to $26 million in the prior-year period.   

Consolidated Financial Highlights – Nine Months Ended September 30

Revenues increased 7%, driven by growth in recurring and transactions revenues. Foreign currency had a slightly negative impact on revenue growth.  

• Organic revenues increased 8%, driven by 8% growth in recurring revenues (80% of total revenues) and 14% growth in transactions revenues. Global Print revenues decreased 8% organically.
• The company's "Big 3" segments reported organic revenue growth of 9% and collectively comprised 82% of total revenues.

Operating profit decreased 22%, primarily because the 2023 period included a gain on the sale of a majority stake in the company's Elite business.  

• Adjusted EBITDA, which excludes the gain on sale of Elite, as well as other items, increased 5% as higher revenues more than offset growth investments and the impact of acquisitions. The related margin decreased to 38.5% from 39.5% in the prior-year period. Foreign currency had a 20 basis points positive impact on the year-over-year change in adjusted EBITDA margin.

Diluted EPS decreased to $3.59 compared to $4.31 in the prior-year period. The current period reflected lower operating profit and included a $468 million non-cash tax benefit related to tax legislation enacted in Canada. The prior-year period included a significant increase in the value of the company's investment in LSEG. In 2024, diluted EPS also benefited from a reduction in weighted-average common shares outstanding due to share repurchases and the company's June 2023 return of capital transaction.

• Adjusted EPS, which excludes the gain on sale of Elite, the changes in value of the company's LSEG investment, the non-cash tax benefit, as well as other adjustments, increased to $2.76 per share from $2.53 per share in the prior-year period, primarily due to higher adjusted EBITDA. In 2024, adjusted EPS also benefited from a reduction in weighted-average common shares.

Net cash provided by operating activities increased by $257 million due to the cash benefits from higher revenues that more than offset investment spending. The prior-year period also included $80 million of payments associated with the company's Change Program, which was completed at the end of 2022.

• Free cash flow increased $145 million as higher cash flows from operating activities more than offset higher capital expenditures and lower cash flows from other investing activities.

Highlights by Customer Segment - Nine Months Ended September 30

2024 Outlook

The company raised its 2024 outlook for organic revenue growth to reflect strong year-to-date performance. All other measures in the outlook were maintained.

The company's outlook for 2024 in the table below assumes constant currency rates and excludes the impact of any future acquisitions or dispositions that may occur during the remainder of the year. Thomson Reuters believes that this type of guidance provides useful insight into the anticipated performance of its businesses.

The company expects its fourth-quarter 2024 organic revenue growth to be approximately 5% and its adjusted EBITDA margin to be approximately 37%.

The company continues to operate in an uncertain macroeconomic environment, reflecting ongoing geopolitical risk, uneven economic growth and an evolving interest rate and inflationary backdrop. Any worsening of the global economic or business environment, among other factors, could impact the company's ability to achieve its outlook.

Reported Full-Year 2023 Results and Full-Year 2024 Outlook

The information in this section is forward-looking. Actual results, which will include the impact of currency and future acquisitions and dispositions completed during 2024 may differ materially from the company's 2024 outlook. The information in this section should also be read in conjunction with the section below entitled "Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements, Material Risks and Material Assumptions."

Dividends and common shares outstanding

A quarterly dividend of $0.54 per share is payable on December 10, 2024 to common shareholders of record as of November 21, 2024.

As of October 31, 2024, Thomson Reuters had approximately 449.9 million common shares outstanding.

Acquisitions

In August 2024, the company acquired Safe Sign Technologies, a U.K-based startup that is developing legal-specific large language models (LLMs).

In October 2024, the company acquired Materia, a US-based startup that has developed an agentic AI assistant for the tax, audit and accounting profession.

Sale agreement

In October 2024, the company announced the signing of a definitive agreement to sell its FindLaw business. FindLaw operates an online legal directory and provides website creation and hosting services, law firm marketing solutions, and peer rating services. The sale is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2024 contingent on receiving regulatory approvals and satisfaction of other customary closing conditions.

Thomson Reuters

Thomson Reuters (NYSE / TSX: TRI) informs the way forward by bringing together the trusted content and technology that people and organizations need to make the right decisions. The company serves professionals across legal, tax, accounting, compliance, government, and media. Its products combine highly specialized software and insights to empower professionals with the data, intelligence, and solutions needed to make informed decisions, and to help institutions in their pursuit of justice, truth and transparency. Reuters, part of Thomson Reuters, is a world leading provider of trusted journalism and news. For more information, visit tr.com.

NON-IFRS FINANCIAL MEASURES

Thomson Reuters prepares its financial statements in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), as issued by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB).

This news release includes certain non-IFRS financial measures, which include ratios that incorporate one or more non-IFRS financial measures, such as adjusted EBITDA (other than at the customer segment level) and the related margin, free cash flow, adjusted earnings and the effective tax rate on adjusted earnings, adjusted EPS, accrued capital expenditures expressed as a percentage of revenues, selected measures excluding the impact of foreign currency, changes in revenues computed on an organic basis as well as all financial measures for the "Big 3" segments.

Thomson Reuters uses these non-IFRS financial measures as supplemental indicators of its operating performance and financial position as well as for internal planning purposes and the company's business outlook. Additionally, Thomson Reuters uses non-IFRS measures as the basis for management incentive programs. These measures do not have any standardized meanings prescribed by IFRS and therefore are unlikely to be comparable to the calculation of similar measures used by other companies and should not be viewed as alternatives to measures of financial performance calculated in accordance with IFRS. Non-IFRS financial measures are defined and reconciled to the most directly comparable IFRS measures in the appended tables.

The company's outlook contains various non-IFRS financial measures. The company believes that providing reconciliations of forward-looking non-IFRS financial measures in its outlook would be potentially misleading and not practical due to the difficulty of projecting items that are not reflective of ongoing operations in any future period. The magnitude of these items may be significant. Consequently, for outlook purposes only, the company is unable to reconcile these non-IFRS measures to the most directly comparable IFRS measures because it cannot predict, with reasonable certainty, the impacts of changes in foreign exchange rates which impact (i) the translation of its results reported at average foreign currency rates for the year, and (ii) other finance income or expense related to intercompany financing arrangements. Additionally, the company cannot reasonably predict the occurrence or amount of other operating gains and losses that generally arise from business transactions that the company does not currently anticipate.

ROUNDING

Other than EPS, the company reports its results in millions of U.S. dollars, but computes percentage changes and margins using whole dollars to be more precise. As a result, percentages and margins calculated from reported amounts may differ from those presented, and growth components may not total due to rounding.

SPECIAL NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS, MATERIAL RISKS AND MATERIAL ASSUMPTIONS

Certain statements in this news release, including, but not limited to, statements in Mr. Hasker's comments,  the "2024 Outlook" section, and statements relating to the sale of the company's FindLaw business, are forward-looking. The words "will", "expect", "believe", "target", "estimate", "could", "should", "intend", "predict", "project" and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements. While the company believes that it has a reasonable basis for making forward-looking statements in this news release, they are not a guarantee of future performance or outcomes and there is no assurance that any of the other events described in any forward-looking statement will materialize. Forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from current expectations. Many of these risks, uncertainties and assumptions are beyond the company's control and the effects of them can be difficult to predict.

Some of the material risk factors that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from those expressed in or implied by forward-looking statements in this news release include, but are not limited to, those discussed on pages 19-35 in the "Risk Factors" section of the company's 2023 annual report. These and other risk factors are discussed in materials that Thomson Reuters from time-to-time files with, or furnishes to, the Canadian securities regulatory authorities and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Thomson Reuters annual and quarterly reports are also available in the "Investor Relations" section of tr.com.

The company's business outlook is based on information currently available to the company and is based on various external and internal assumptions made by the company in light of its experience and perception of historical trends, current conditions and expected future developments, as well as other factors that the company believes are appropriate under the circumstances. Material assumptions and material risks may cause actual performance to differ from the company's expectations underlying its business outlook. In particular, the global economy has experienced substantial disruption due to concerns regarding economic effects associated with the macroeconomic backdrop and ongoing geopolitical risks. The company's business outlook assumes that uncertain macroeconomic and geopolitical conditions will continue to disrupt the economy and cause periods of volatility, however, these conditions may last substantially longer than expected and any worsening of the global economic or business environment could impact the company's ability to achieve its outlook and affect its results and other expectations. For a discussion of material assumptions and material risks related to the company's 2024 outlook see page 19 of the company's second-quarter management's discussion and analysis (MD&A) for the period ended June 30, 2024. The company's quarterly MD&A and annual report was filed with, or furnished to, the Canadian securities regulatory authorities and the U.S. SEC and are also available in the "Investor Relations" section of tr.com. 

The company has provided an outlook for the purpose of presenting information about current expectations for the period presented. This information may not be appropriate for other purposes. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements which reflect expectations only as of the date of this news release.

Except as may be required by applicable law, Thomson Reuters disclaims any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements.

CONTACTS

Thomson Reuters will webcast a discussion of its third-quarter 2024 results and its 2024 business outlook today beginning at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST). You can access the webcast by visiting ir.tr.com. An archive of the webcast will be available following the presentation.