Thomson Reuters posts higher 1Q net income

NEW YORK (AP) — News and information provider Thomson Reuters said Tuesday that its first-quarter net income increased 26 percent, helped by a tax benefit and higher revenue in its tax and accounting, legal and intellectual property and science segments.

The company earned $314 million, or 38 cents per share, in the January-March period. That's up from earnings of $250 million, or 30 cents per share, in the same period a year ago. Adjusted earnings were 44 cents per share in the latest quarter, up from 37 cents a year earlier.

Revenue grew 1 percent to $3.35 billion from $3.33 billion.

Analysts, on average, were expecting earnings of 39 cents per share on revenue of $3.17 billion, according to a poll by FactSet.

Thomson Reuters said it saw solid revenue growth in its tax and accounting business, as well as its legal segment and intellectual property and science division, which provides scientific and scholarly research.

A tax benefit of $33 million helped increase the latest quarter's net income. The company booked a tax expense of $52 million in the same period last year.

The company reaffirmed its outlook for all of 2012. It expects revenue to grow in the low-single digits. Analysts are expecting revenue of $13.1 billion, up from $13 billion in 2011.

Thomson Reuters announced last week that it's selling its health care analytics division to Veritas Capital for $1.25 billion in cash. It said in 2011 that it planned to sell the business because it wasn't a good fit with its other operations.

The New York-based company's stock rose 56 cents to $30.88 in midday trading Tuesday.