By Jennifer Saba
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Thomson Reuters Corp on Wednesday forecast revenue to grow in 2015 after sales of financial products outpaced cancellations for the first time in six years in 2014.
The news and information company, which released fourth quarter earnings and revenue results below analyst expectations, made its projections factoring out currency changes or acquisitions.
"We are entering 2015 in the best place we have been in a long time," Chief Executive Jim Smith said in an interview. "The underlying sales trajectory are good indicators of our capacity for future revenue growth."
Thomson Corp acquired Reuters Group Plc in 2008, in a $17 billion merger that was completed just as the financial industry crisis started.
The Financial & Risk division, which caters to banks and other financial institutions, represents more than half of the company's total revenue. For that division, net sales, which strip out cancellations, have lagged since the merger as banks slashed spending and cut headcount.
Smith pointed that the company's revamp of desktop products, including its flagship Eikon terminal, have helped push up sales. This year, he said, will be the final year of product migrations.
"We can move from focusing on fixing things to growing," Smith said about the company.
Total revenue for the year was flat before currency adjustments at $12.6 billion, meeting the company's 2014 forecast.
For the fourth quarter, total revenue rose 1 percent before currency considerations to $3.21 billion. It decreased 2 percent when currencies moves were factored in. Analysts on average were expecting $3.27 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
The rise in quarterly revenue was due to strength at the company's Legal division, which reported a 2 percent increase to $872 million and its Tax & Accounting unit, where revenue rose 10 percent to $397 million.
Adjusted for special items, fourth quarter income was $347 million, or 43 cents per share impacted partly by foreign currency fluctuations, compared with $170 million, or 21 cents per share, a year earlier. Analysts were expecting 47 cents per share.
The company's board approved a 2 cent annual dividend increase to $1.34 per share.
(Reporting by Jennifer Saba in New York; Editing by Alden Bentley)
