The Tax & Accounting total was, up 6 percent in constant currency. The global portion of the business rose 27 percent, with Latin America the primary element in that growth The government segment, which comprises 6 percent the unit’s revenue, was down by 11 percent. Tax & Accounting’s adjusted EBITDA jumped to $153 million for the. quarter, an increase of 26 percent a year ago. The total was up 29 percent in constant currency
Company-wide, revenue rose 9 percent to $1.42 billion for the most recently ended period, compared to $1.31 billion a year ago. Net earnings dropped to $189 million, down from $657 million in last year’s corresponding period.
Operating profit rose to $447 million, more than double the year-ago $204 million. That was impacted by the recent announcement that Blackstone and Thomson have agreed to sell Refinitiv to the London Stock Exchange Group. Thomson holds a 45 percent stake in Refinitiv, its former financial services and risk business. If the deal is approved, Thomson will own about 15 percent. The news caused Thomson to revalue warrants that the company holds in Refinitiv, which contributing to the rise in operating profit.
CEO James Smith pointed to three acquisitions during last eight months as supporting growth in the rest of 2019. Those are Integration Point, now part of the Corporate segment; Confirmation, in the Tax & Accounting Professionals business, and HighQ 2, which is described as a collaboration platform for the legal and regulatory market
The acquired businesses are expected to generate about $135 million in annualized revenues this year and register an aggregate growth rate of about 25 percent.. The Confirmation and High Q 2 deals were made only two weeks prior to the webcast.
Smith said the company intends to continue making acquisitions. Since the spinoff of Refinitiv that means using an investment fund of $2 billion from proceeds of that deal primarily “to strengthen our positions in Legal, Tax & Accounting businesses by pursuing cloud-based software businesses. “ The company has used about half the fund in the three purchases.
