Reuters’ parent earnings beat estimates

Thomson Reuters, the parent company of the Reuters news service, reported a higher-than-expected 10 percent rise in third-quarter profit as strength in its professional division offset weakness in its markets business.

Jennifer Saba of Reuters writes, “The company said in September that it would merge its Professional division, serving mainly lawyers and accountants, with its struggling Markets division, which targets banks and other financial institutions.

“‘We expect the benefit of these changes will improve sales performance in 2012 and benefit 2013 revenue growth,’ Chief Executive Tom Glocer said in a statement.

“The Markets division, which accounts for about 58 percent of overall revenue, posted revenue growth of just 1 percent as banks continued to slash jobs and costs.

“The company has also been hurt by the slow uptake of its new Eikon desktop product for traders and analysts. Thomson Reuters said it had sold or migrated 32,000 Eikons by the end of September, up from 28,000 three months earlier.

“Adding to the thousands of job cuts in the banking industry over the past year, Credit Suisse said on Tuesday it would eliminate another 1,500 positions as it scales back its investment banking business.”

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