By Jessica Toonkel
(Reuters) - Thomson Reuters Corp (N:TRI) (TO:TRI) on Friday reported slightly higher-than-expected first-quarter sales and earnings, and forecast low single-digit growth in 2018 revenue in its remaining business.
The news and information company announced earlier this year that it is selling a majority stake of its Financial & Risk unit to private equity firm Blackstone Group LP (N:BX).
Thomson Reuters reported quarterly revenue of $1.38 billion (1.02 billion pounds), up from $1.33 billion a year ago. Adjusted for special items, first-quarter earnings were 28 cents per share.
Analysts on average were expecting revenues of $1.36 billion and earnings of $0.27 per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Thomson Reuters, the parent of Reuters News, competes for financial customers with Bloomberg LP as well as News Corp's (O:NWSA) Dow Jones unit.
The company said it expects adjusted EBITDA to range between $1.2 billion to $1.3 billion for the year in the remaining business.
The company's legal business reported revenue of $872 million in the first quarter, up 2 percent excluding currency. The Tax & Accounting unit reported revenue of $437 million, up 5 percent when factoring out currency.
Thomson Reuters's news division reported $72 million in revenue, down 7 percent from a year ago.
After the Blackstone deal, Thomson Reuters will focus on expanding its Legal, Tax & Accounting and Regulatory businesses, the company has said.
In the quarter, the Financial and Risk business grew revenues 3 percent in constant currency to $1.58 billion. The unit is now counted as discontinued operations.
Under the agreement, the new F&R company will make minimum annual payments of $325 million to Reuters over 30 years to secure access to its news service, equating to almost $10 billion. The payments will be adjusted for inflation.
Thomson Reuters announced a new $500 million share repurchase programme.
