Thomson Reuters Q3 Profit Down,backs FY View; To Buy Back Up To $1 Bln Of Shares

(RTTNews) - Business data provider Thomson Reuters Corp. (TRI, TRI.TO) reported that its third-quarter net earnings attributable to common shareholders slipped to $271 million or $0.33 per share, from $441 million or $0.53 per share in the same quarter last year. But, Underlying operating profit for the quarter increased to $548 million from $534 million last year.

Third-quarter adjusted earnings per share were $0.48, unchanged from the prior-year period.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report earnings of $0.44 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Revenues for the quarter declined to $3.09 billion from $3.18 billion in the prior year quarter. Revenues from ongoing businesses were $3.073 billion, compared to $3.052 billion last year. Ten analysts had consensus revenue estimate of $3.12 billion for the quarter.

The Prior-period amounts have been revised to reflect the retrospective application of amendments to IAS 19, Employee Benefits and the adoption of IFRS 11, Joint Arrangements.

Thomson Reuters announced that it plans to record a charge of approximately $350 million, which would be incurred primarily in the fourth quarter of 2013 with a smaller portion recorded in 2014. These charges are expected to help accelerate cost savings opportunities from simplification efforts across the organization, primarily in Financial & Risk.

The company also announced that it plans to make contributions of approximately $500 million to its US and UK defined benefit pension plans during the fourth quarter of 2013. The company expects the overall funded status of the plans to exceed 90% based on current market conditions. This includes the first material contribution to the US pension plan in 10 years. The contribution will be partly funded from long-term debt and is expected to eliminate any material near-term contribution requirements for the US plan.

The company also announced that it plans to repurchase up to $1 billion of its shares by the end of 2014. During the third quarter, the company repurchased approximately 2.9 million shares for an aggregate cost of approximately $100 million.

As previously announced in February 2013, the company increased its 2013 annual dividend by $0.02 per share to $1.30 per share. A quarterly dividend of $0.325 per share is payable on December 16, 2013 to common shareholders of record as of November 21, 2013.

The company reaffirmed its business outlook, Before Currency, for 2013. The company continues to expect underlying operating profit margin to range between 16.5% and 17.5%, and revenues to grow low single digits.

The company said its 2013 outlook included the impact of an expected $100 million of severance expenses in 2013, $97 million of which was incurred in the first three quarters of the year.

The company's Outlook does not include the planned charge of approximately $350 million or planned pension contribution of approximately $500 million announced today.