Thomson Reuters to cut 2,500 jobs

Thomson Reuters will cut 2,500 jobs, or 4 per cent of its total headcount, this year as the data group tries to improve profitability in the face of “headwinds” in the financial and legal markets on which its largest divisions depend.

Jim Smith, chief executive, said the group was “in year two of a two-year turnround” in its largest division, financial and risk, and was entering 2013 in a more confident mood. Staffing in financial institutions was “hardly robust”, he said, “but it does seem more stable than it seemed at this time last year”.

Thomson Reuters had retired about 100 “legacy” products last year, and would have largely replaced Reuters 3000 Xtra terminals by the end of 2013, he said, helping it to save money spent on supporting several different systems.

Recent launches in the legal division represented “the strongest new product pipeline I can recall”, he added.

Mr Smith said the company had not yet seen any impact from rival Bloomberg Law, which a Bernstein analysis says is a more likely replacement for Reed Elsevier’s LexisNexis, “but we know what a formidable company Bloomberg can be”.

Thomson Reuters revenues rose 3 per cent for the full year and 2 per cent year on year for the fourth quarter, but adjustments for currency effects, acquisitions and disposals left organic growth flat in both periods, reflecting what Bernstein Research dubbed a “growth hangover” for professional publishers.

The group swung from a net loss of $1.39bn a year ago, when the figures reflected a $3bn goodwill impairment, to net income of $2.12bn. Adjusted earnings per share were up 8 per cent for the year to $2.12.