Thomson Reuters Announces $500 Mln Share Buyback Program; Provides 2018 Outlook

(RTTNews) - Thomson Reuters (TRI, TRI.TO) announced that it may buy back up to $500 million of its shares prior to the closing of the proposed Financial & Risk transaction under its normal course issuer bid. The company's current NCIB expires later this month and the company plans to renew its NCIB for a new 12 month period.

The company currently expects to use between $9 billion and $10 billion of the estimated $17 billion of gross proceeds of the transaction to return capital to its shareholders through a substantial issuer bid/tender offer. The company's principal shareholder (Woodbridge) is expected to participate pro rata in the substantial issuer bid/tender offer. The company now expects to use between $3.0 billion and $4.0 billion of the proceeds from the proposed Financial & Risk transaction to repay debt. Therefore, the company does not anticipate the need to establish a dividend reinvestment plan.

For the first-quarter, adjusted EBITDA increased 4% and the margin was unchanged at 31.2%. Adjusted EPS, which excludes discontinued operations, was $0.28 and increased 12%, or $0.03 per share, due to higher adjusted EBITDA and lower interest expense. Revenues increased 4% due to higher recurring revenues and a positive impact from foreign currency. At constant currency, revenues increased 3%.

For the full-year 2018, the company expects: low single-digit revenue growth; and adjusted EBITDA to range between $1.2 billion - $1.3 billion.