Thomson Reuters, the news and financial data publisher, reported a 3 per cent rise in its operating profit, but revenue was dragged down by weaker sales in its markets division, which serves the financial industry.

The company, which was formed by the merger of Thomson Corp and Reuters Group Plc in 2007, said that underlying operating profit, which takes out the cost of integrating the two companies, amortisation and other items, was up 3 per cent to $711 million, from $690 million a year earlier. Net profit fell 9.7 per cent to $162 million.

Thomas Glocer, Thomson Reuters chief executive, said the company’s tax and accounting and healthcare and science businesses continued to perform strongly. But the company expects the impact of weaker subscription sales in its markets and legal businesses in 2009 to continue to drag on revenue in the first half of 2010.

"While the weak year-to-date net sales experienced in recent quarters are now flowing through into revenues, we expect this dip to be shallow and limited to the next few quarters," Mr Glocer said. Revenue from ongoing businesses, excluding the impact of foreign exchange rates, fell 2 per cent to $3.21 billion, slightly less than the average analyst's forecast of $3.23 billion.

Revenue in the company’s markets division, which provides news and data to financial institutions, fell 4 per cent to $1.86 billion in the third quarter, before currency adjustments. Within this division, revenue from the company’s media unit fell 10 per cent amid consolidation among traditional media outlets such as newspapers

In the professional division, which includes products for lawyers, accountants and healthcare professionals, revenue rose 2 per cent before currency adjustments to $1.36 billion. Higher sales in tax and accounting, and healthcare and sciences offset a 1 per cent decline in legal business revenue.

Corporate expenses tripled from a year earlier to $163 million in the third quarter, due in part to integration costs. The company said it completed the unification of its dual listing, ending its London listing during the quarter. The company will pay a quarterly dividend of $0.28 per share on December 15.

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