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.