As a result, Thomson had $1.31 billion in revenue from continuing operations, compared to $1.28 billion in last year’s continuing operations. That contrasts with the reported $2.78 billion continuing operations last year, which included F&R.

In this week’s earnings webcast, CEO James Smith said he expects the sale of the majority ownership of F&R to Blackstone will close early in the fourth quarter. Continuing revenue now is comprised by Legal, Tax & Accounting, and Reuters News. He said "substantially" all regulatory approval for the sale has been received.

Tax & Accounting revenue was $359 million for the recently ended quarter, an increase of 3 percent from $35 million a year ago; up 4 percent in constant currencies. The unit’s EBIDTA dropped to $91 million, off 12 percent from $103 million, down 10 percent in constant currencies. The company said changes in a long-term government contract pushed operating margins down to 25.3 percent from 29.4 percent.

Most of the growth within Tax & Accounting continued to be in the professional segment, whose revenues were up 10 percent over the year-ago quarter. Corporate revenue was up 2 percent.

Bob Scott

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Bob Scott has provided information to the tax and accounting community since 1991, first as technology editor of Accounting Today, and from 1997 through 2009 as editor of its sister publication, Accounting Technology. He is known throughout the industry for his depth of knowledge and for his high journalistic standards.  Scott has made frequent appearances as a speaker, moderator and panelist and events serving tax and accounting professionals. He  has a strong background in computer journalism as an editor with two former trade publications, Computer+Software News and MIS Week and spent several years with weekly and daily newspapers in Morris County New Jersey prior to that.  A graduate of Indiana University with a degree in journalism, Bob is a native of Madison, Ind