(Reuters) -Thomson Reuters reported on Thursday higher fourth-quarter revenue and issued 2025 organic revenue growth targets that could exceed the rate in 2024.
The Toronto-based content and technology company reported quarterly revenue rising 5% to $1.909 billion, slightly ahead of analyst expectations of $1.907 billion, according to LSEG data.
“2024 marked important progress at Thomson Reuters,” said CEO Steve Hasker in a prepared statement. “Looking ahead to 2025, we continue to focus on investing in content-driven technology that helps professionals make complex decisions with confidence.”
Thomson Reuters, which owns the Westlaw legal database, Reuters news agency and the Checkpoint tax and accounting service, spent more than $200 million on AI investments in 2024 and expects to continue at that pace in 2025, executives said.
Overall, the company has said it has about $10 billion to spend on potential acquisitions through 2027.
The company reported fourth-quarter adjusted earnings per share of $1.01. Wall Street expected a profit per share of 96 cents.
Operating profit rose 29% to $722 million, boosted by the sale of FindLaw.
Thomson Reuters said it expected organic revenue to rise by 7% to 7.5% in 2025 and 7.5% to 8% in 2026. That compares with 7% growth in 2024. Organic revenue is reported on a constant currency basis and excludes the impact of acquisitions and asset sales.
The company raised its annualized dividend per share by 10%.
In the fourth quarter, Thomson Reuters said it acquired Materia, a startup that develops AI agents for the tax and accounting sector.
In the first quarter of this year, it purchased cPaperless, LLC, owner of SafeSend, a provider of technology for tax and accounting business, for $600 million in cash.
(Reporting by Kenneth Li in New York. Editing by Mark Potter)
