Thomson Reuters reports higher second-quarter revenue, raises full-year forecast
Thomson Reuters Q2 2024 Financial Performance and Strategic Updates
By Kenneth Li
Second-Quarter Revenue Growth
Aug 5 (Reuters) - Thomson Reuters reported a 9% rise in second-quarter revenue on Wednesday, boosted by its three biggest business segments, legal, corporates and tax and accounting, and lifted its full-year organic revenue forecast to around 8%.
Thomson Reuters said its second-quarter revenue rose to $1.95 billion, edging past estimates of about $1.9 billion. It said earnings per share excluding items rose to 99 cents. Wall Street had forecast earnings per share of 96 cents.
The Toronto-based content and technology company said it had raised its full-year organic revenue forecast to around 8%, from a previous range of 7.5% to 8%.
Business Segment Performance
In July, Thomson Reuters announced the sale of 51% of its Global Print business to create a new joint venture with KKR to focus on its digital businesses and "fiduciary-grade AI".
AI Initiatives and Digital Transformation
Over the summer it will begin offering clients access to a new proprietary large language model built for professional work and trained on content from Westlaw, Practical Law, Checkpoint and Reuters, the company said last week.
"Our priority for the second half of the year is further deepening our leadership in trusted Fiduciary-Grade AI solutions," Thomson Reuters CEO Steve Hasker said in a statement, referring to AI built to produce results that can be verified and audited.
Stock Performance and Market Reaction
Thomson Reuters shares have underperformed the S&P/TSX Composite Index, which as of Tuesday had traded up 12.35% year to date. Thomson Reuters shares were down 15.28% over the same period.
Shares in Thomson Reuters have been among those hit this year by fears over the challenges that AI newcomers, including Anthropic, pose to established companies, triggering a selloff in software, data and professional services stocks.
(Reporting by Kenneth Li in New York; Editing by Alexander Smith)
