Get this. A solid set of Q1 figures from Thomson Reuters, released on Thursday early afternoon London time, pushed the shares convincingly above £19.
The stock is now higher than Reuters (pre-merger) traded at the height of the greatest financial markets boom in history – a couple of years back, when the shares momentarily hit £19.11.
Here are the Q1 bullet points, with all the predictable stuff about out-performing on the integration front and the close management of costs, etc. But what’s the real reason?
Trading houses trading down from over-priced Bloomie?
Less clients going bust?
Duopoly benefits?
Traditional strength in FX?
Thomson family arbitrage activity, closing the gap with the Canadian quote?
Stable, modern tech platform, with great analytics, fabulous messaging capabilities and a rock solid news service?
- Revenues were $3.1 billion, an increase of 3% before currency compared to first-quarter 2008 pro forma revenues. GAAP revenues increased 70% (after currency) primarily as a result of the Reuters acquisition completed on April 17, 2008.
- Underlying operating profit increased 2% to $588 million, with the related margin increasing 100 basis points primarily due to the benefits of currency and integration-related savings.
- Earnings per share were $0.40 benefiting from higher underlying profit, offset by higher integration-related costs of $0.07 per share.
- First-quarter free cash flow was $51 million, down from the prior period, primarily due to a $194 million increase in net interest paid related to the acquisition of Reuters.
- Integration and legacy savings programs are tracking against the accelerated plan with $850 million of run-rate savings (against a 2011 target of $1.4 billion) achieved by quarter-end.
Related links:
Thomson Reuters Q1 – statement
Thomson Reuters / Bloomberg – Lex