Thomson Reuters posts 2Q net income jump

NEW YORK (AP) — Thomson Reuters said Tuesday that second-quarter net income rose 64 percent due to a gain from the sale of two business units.

The news and information company earned $922 million, or $1.11 per share, in the April to June period. That was up from earnings of $563 million, or 67 cents, in the same period a year ago.

During the quarter, Thomson Reuters sold its health care analytics division to Veritas Capital for $1.25 billion in cash. The company said in 2011 that it planned to sell the business because it wasn't a good fit with its other operations.

Thomson Reuters also sold its Portia investment operations platform to SS&C Technologies Holdings Inc. for $170 million.

Excluding the sales and other one-time effects, the New York-based company's adjusted earnings were $449 million or 54 cents per share in the latest quarter, up from $429 million or 51 cents a year earlier.

Revenue fell 4 percent to $3.31 billion from $3.45 billion. Thomson Reuters said if not for fluctuations in currency rates, ongoing business revenue would have grown 3 percent.

Analysts, on average, were expecting earnings of 50 cents per share on revenue of $3.25 billion, according to a poll by FactSet.

The company reaffirmed its outlook for all of 2012, which includes a forecast for revenue growth by a low-single-digit percentage.

Thomson Reuters shares fell 43 cents, or 1.5 percent, to $28.46 in morning trading.