TRI Thomson Reuters Corp

TORONTO, Feb. 6, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Thomson Reuters (TSX/NYSE: TRI) today reported results for the fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2024: 

• Good revenue momentum continued in the fourth quarter and full year
  • Full-year total company and organic revenues up 7%
  • Fourth-quarter total company and organic revenues up 5%
    • Organic revenues up 8% for the "Big 3" segments (Legal Professionals, Corporates and Tax & Accounting Professionals)
• Met full-year 2024 outlook for total company organic revenue growth, adjusted EBITDA margin and free cash flow; Met "Big 3" organic revenue growth outlook
• Full-year 2025 outlook anticipates organic revenue growth of approximately 7.0 - 7.5% and an adjusted EBITDA margin of approximately 39%
• Updated financial framework for 2026 anticipates 7.5% - 8.0% organic revenue growth and 50 basis points or more of adjusted EBITDA margin expansion
• Increased annualized dividend per share by 10% (32^nd consecutive annual increase)
• Acquired SafeSend to expand tax automation capabilities for $600 million in January 2025

"2024 marked important progress at Thomson Reuters," said Steve Hasker, President and CEO of Thomson Reuters. "We continue to deliver on the ambitious innovation roadmap we shared at our 2024 investor day, highlighted by the launch of new product capabilities and enhancements throughout our portfolio. Looking ahead to 2025, we continue to focus on investing in content-driven technology that helps professionals make complex decisions with confidence."

Mr. Hasker added, "We remain focused on allocating capital to drive long-term shareholder value creation. In 2024, we continued to return capital to shareholders, completed the monetization of our London Stock Exchange Group stake and executed several strategic acquisitions, resulting in a stronger and more strategically aligned portfolio with improved growth prospects."

Consolidated Financial Highlights - Three Months Ended December 31

Revenues increased 5% due to 7% growth in recurring revenues (83% of total revenues) partly offset by a 1% decline in transactions revenues and a 6% decline in Global Print. The net impact of acquisitions and disposals as well as foreign currency on total company revenue growth was not significant. 

• Organic revenues increased 5% due to 8% growth in recurring revenues partly offset by a 4% decline in transactions revenues and the decline in Global Print.
• The company's "Big 3" segments reported organic revenue growth of 8% and collectively comprised 81% of total revenues.

Operating profit increased 29% driven from gains on the sale of FindLaw and other non-core businesses.   

• Adjusted EBITDA, which excludes gains on the sale of businesses, as well as other items, increased 2% and the related margin decreased to 37.6% from 38.9% in the prior-year period. The increase in revenues were largely offset by higher costs reflecting continued investments in the business, the impact of acquisitions and higher incentive compensation. Foreign currency had a 30 basis points positive impact on the year-over-year change in adjusted EBITDA margin.   

Diluted EPS decreased to $1.30 compared to $1.49 in the prior-year period as higher operating profit and currency benefits included in other finance income or costs were more than offset by higher tax expense, lower results from discontinued operations and a prior-year period increase in the value of the company's former investment in London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG).   

• Adjusted EPS, which exclude gains on the sale of businesses, other finance income or costs, changes in value of the company's former LSEG investment, discontinued operations, as well as other adjustments, was $1.01 per share versus $0.98 per share in the prior-year period.

Net cash provided by operating activities decreased by $141 million primarily due to certain component changes in working capital.

• Free cash flow decreased by $188 million primarily due to the decrease in cash flows from operating activities and higher capital expenditures.   

Highlights by Customer Segment – Three Months Ended December 31

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

Legal Professionals

Revenues increased 4% to $729 million and included a negative impact from the divestiture of FindLaw. Organic revenue growth was 7%.

• Recurring revenues increased 4% (97% of total, 8% organic). Organic revenue growth was primarily driven by Westlaw, CoCounsel, Practical Law, and the segment's international businesses.
• Transactions revenues decreased 10% (3% of total, decreased 4% organic).

Adjusted EBITDA was slightly higher at $299 million.

• The margin decreased to 41.0% from 42.5% primarily driven by higher investments.

Corporates

Revenues increased 15% to $458 million, including the acquisition impact of Pagero. Organic revenue growth was 10%.

• Recurring revenues increased 13% (88% of total, 10% organic). Organic revenue growth was primarily driven by Practical Law, Indirect Tax, CLEAR and the segment's international businesses.
• Transactions revenues increased 28% (12% of total, 12% organic) driven primarily by Pagero, Direct Tax and Trust.   

Adjusted EBITDA increased 11% to $153 million.

• The margin decreased to 33.5% from 34.5%, primarily driven by the Pagero acquisition and higher investments.

Tax & Accounting Professionals

Revenues increased 7%, all organic, to $366 million.

• Recurring revenues increased 5% (87% of total, all organic). Organic revenue growth was driven by the segment's Latin America business and UltraTax products.
• Transactions revenues increased 21% (13% of total, all organic) driven by tax products and professional services.

Adjusted EBITDA increased 4% to $196 million.

• The margin decreased to 53.4% from 54.6%, 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 $218 million decreased 1% (decreased 3% organic) and included a positive impact from acquisitions. The organic revenue decline primarily reflected generative AI related content licensing revenue included in the prior-year period that was largely transactional in nature, partially offset by higher agency revenues and a contractual price increase from our news agreement with the Data & Analytics business of LSEG.

Adjusted EBITDA decreased 26% to $45 million primarily due to lower transactions revenues and higher costs including editorial coverage of key global events in the quarter.

Global Print

Revenues of $144 million decreased 6%, all organic, driven by lower shipment volumes and the migration of customers from a Global Print product to Westlaw.

Adjusted EBITDA was $55 million, unchanged from the prior-year period.

• The margin increased to 38.2% from 36.4% primarily due to lower costs.

Corporate Costs

Corporate costs were $30 million compared to $33 million in the prior-year period.   

Consolidated Financial Highlights – Year Ended December 31

Revenues increased 7% due to 8% growth in recurring revenues (81% of total revenues) and 11% growth in transactions revenues, partly offset by an 8% decline in Global Print. The net impact of acquisitions and disposals as well as foreign currency on total company revenue growth was not significant.  

• Organic revenues increased 7% due to 8% growth in recurring revenues and 10% growth in transactions revenues. Global Print revenues decreased 7% organically.
• The company's "Big 3" segments reported organic revenue growth of 9% and collectively comprised 82% of total revenues.

Operating profit decreased 10%, primarily due to lower gains from the sales of businesses compared to the prior-year period, which included the gain from the sale of a majority stake in Elite.

• Adjusted EBITDA, which excludes gains on the sale of businesses, as well as other items, increased 4% and the related margin decreased to 38.2% from 39.3% in the prior-year period. The growth in revenues was partly offset by higher costs reflecting continued investments in the business, the impact of acquisitions, and higher incentive compensation. Foreign currency had a 20 basis points positive impact on the year-over-year change in adjusted EBITDA margin.

Diluted EPS decreased to $4.89 compared to $5.80 in the prior-year period as lower income tax expense, which reflected a current year $468 million non-cash tax benefit related to tax legislation enacted in Canada, and currency benefits included in other finance income or costs, were more than offset by a significant prior-year period increase in the value of the company's former investment in LSEG as well as lower operating profit. 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 non-cash tax benefit, other finance income or costs, changes in value of the company's former LSEG investment, gains on sales of businesses, as well as other adjustments, increased to $3.77 per share from $3.51 per share in the prior-year period, 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 $116 million due to the cash benefits from higher revenues that more than offset higher investment spending.

• Free cash flow decreased $43 million as higher cash flows from operating activities were more than offset by higher capital expenditures and lower cash flows from other investing activities.

Highlights by Customer Segment – Year Ended December 31

2025 Outlook 

The company's outlook for 2025 in the table below assumes constant currency rates and incorporates the recent SafeSend acquisition and the divestitures of FindLaw and other non-core businesses but 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 first-quarter 2025 organic revenue growth to be in the range of 5% to 6% and its adjusted EBITDA margin to be approximately 40%.

The company's 2025 outlook and updated 2026 financial framework is forward-looking information that is subject to risks and uncertainties (see "Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements, Material Risks and Material Assumptions"). In particular, 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 2024 Results and Full-Year 2025 Outlook

Updated 2026 Financial Framework

For 2026, the company targets an organic revenue growth range of 7.5% - 8.0%, driven by approximately 9.5% growth for the "Big 3" segments. The company targets adjusted EBITDA margin expansion by at least 50 basis points. It anticipates accrued capital expenditures as a percentage of revenues to be approximately 8%, and free cash flow to range from $2.0 - $2.1 billion, and an effective tax rate of approximately 19%.

This financial framework assumes constant currency rates and incorporates the recent SafeSend acquisition but excludes the impact of any future acquisitions or dispositions that may occur during this time horizon.

The information in this section is forward-looking. Actual results, which will include the impact of currency, future acquisitions and dispositions completed during 2025 and 2026, and macroeconomic events outside of the company's control may differ materially from the company's 2025 outlook and 2026 financial framework. 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." The company's 2025 outlook and 2026 financial framework are also based on certain assumptions described in the cross-referenced section, which the company believes are reasonable in the circumstances, and is subject to a number of risks, including those specifically identified in the cross-referenced section and those facing the company generally.

Recent Acquisition

In January 2025, the company acquired cPaperless, LLC, doing business as SafeSend, for $600 million in cash. SafeSend is a U.S. based cloud-native provider of technology for tax and accounting professionals. SafeSend automates the "last-mile" of the tax return, including assembly, review, taxpayer e-signature, and delivery. This business will be substantially reported in the Tax & Accounting Professionals segment.

Dividends and common shares outstanding

The company announced today that its Board of Directors approved a 10% or $0.22 per share annualized increase in the dividend to $2.38 per common share, representing the 32^nd consecutive year of dividend increases and the fourth consecutive 10% increase. A quarterly dividend of $0.595 per share is payable on March 10, 2025 to common shareholders of record as of February 20, 2025.

As of February 4, 2025, Thomson Reuters had approximately 450.1 million common shares outstanding.

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, net debt and leverage ratio of net debt to adjusted EBITDA, 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 and financial framework. 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 and financial framework contain various non-IFRS financial measures. The company believes that providing reconciliations of forward-looking non-IFRS financial measures in its outlook and financial framework 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 purposes of its outlook and financial framework 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 "2025 Outlook" section, the "Updated 2026 Financial Framework" section and the company's expectations including the impact of its recent acquisition of SafeSend, 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 2025 outlook and updated 2026 financial framework are 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 and financial framework. 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 and financial framework 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. Material assumptions related to the company's revenue outlook and financial framework are that uncertain macroeconomic and geopolitical conditions will continue to disrupt the economy and cause periods of volatility; there will be a continued need for trusted products and services that help customers navigate evolving and complex legal, tax, accounting, regulatory, geopolitical and commercial changes, developments and environments, and for cloud-based digital tools that drive productivity; Thomson Reuters will have a continued ability to deliver innovative products that meet evolving customer demands; the company will acquire new customers through expanded and improved digital platforms, simplification of the product portfolio and through other sales initiatives; and the company will improve customer retention through commercial simplification efforts and customer service improvements. Material assumptions related to the company's adjusted EBITDA margin outlook and financial framework are its ability to achieve revenue growth targets; the company's business mix continues to shift to higher-growth product offerings; and integration expenses associated with recent acquisitions will reduce margins. Material assumptions related to the company's free cash flow outlook and financial framework are its ability to achieve its revenue and adjusted EBITDA margin targets; and accrued capital expenditures approximate the percentage of revenues as set forth in the company's outlook and financial framework. Material assumptions related to the company's effective tax rate on adjusted earnings outlook and financial framework are its ability to achieve its adjusted EBITDA target; the mix of taxing jurisdictions where the company recognized pre-tax profit or losses in 2024 does not significantly change; no unexpected changes in tax laws or treaties within the jurisdictions where the company operates; no significant charges or benefits from the finalization of prior tax years; depreciation and amortization of internally developed computer software as set forth in the company's outlook; and interest expense as set forth in the company's outlook.

Material risks related to the company's revenue outlook and financial framework are that ongoing geopolitical instability and uncertainty regarding interest rates and inflation, continue to impact the global economy. The severity and duration of any one, or a combination, of these conditions could impact the global economy and lead to lower demand for our products and services (beyond our assumption that these disruptions will cause periods of volatility); uncertainty in the legal regulatory regime relating to artificial intelligence (AI) has made it difficult for the company to predict the risks associated with the use of AI in its businesses and products. Future legislation may make it harder for the company to conduct its business using AI, lead to regulatory fines or penalties, require it to change its product offerings or business practices or prevent or limit its use of AI; demand for the company's products and services could be reduced by changes in customer buying patterns or in its inability to execute on key product design or customer support initiatives; competitive pricing actions and product innovation could impact the company's revenues; and the company's sales, commercial simplification and product initiatives may be insufficient to retain customers or generate new sales. Material risks related to the company's adjusted EBITDA margin outlook and financial framework are the same as the risks above related to the revenue outlook; higher than expected inflation may lead to greater than anticipated increase in labor costs, third-party supplier costs and costs of print materials; and acquisition and disposal activity may dilute the company's adjusted EBITDA margin. Material risks related to the company's free cash flow outlook and financial framework are the same as the risks above related to the revenue and adjusted EBITDA margin targets; a weaker macroeconomic environment could negatively impact working capital performance, including the ability of the company's customers to pay; accrued capital expenditures may be higher than currently expected; and the timing and amount of tax payments to governments may differ from the company's expectations. Material risks related to the company's effective tax rate on adjusted earnings outlook and financial framework are the same as the risks above related to adjusted EBITDA; a material change in the geographical mix of the company's pre-tax profits and losses; a material change in current tax laws or treaties to which the company is subject, and did not expect; and depreciation and amortization of internally developed computer software as well as interest expense may be significantly higher or lower than expected.

The company has provided an outlook and financial framework for the purpose of presenting information about current expectations for the periods 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 fourth-quarter and full-year 2024 results and its 2025 business outlook and updated 2026 financial framework today beginning at 8:00 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.