"We delivered strong improvement in revenue, profit and cash flow," McKinstry said in summarizing the first half performance.

Profit of about $314 million represented an increase of 33 percent over the first half of 2016. Revenue for the most recently ended period of roughly $2.57 billion rose 6 percent over last year's corresponding period. The figures were up 4 percent in constant currencies and 2 percent organically. The company reported 3-percent organic growth in its Tax & Accounting and Legal & Regulatory operations.

McKinstry outlined plans to increase the use of new technologies.

"Our plan calls for increased focus on expert solutions that combine deep domain knowledge with specialized technology and services to deliver expert answers, analytics and productivity for our customers," she said. The company also plans to accelerate its move to global platforms and cloud-based applications with mobile access.

Investment in new products will be in the range of 8 percent to 10 percent of revenue over the next few years.