Thomson Reuters Corp. TRI-T reported higher fourth-quarter revenue and raised its annual dividend, predicting stronger returns over the next two years despite turmoil over global trade and changing expectations for artificial intelligence.
Revenue increased 5 per cent to US$1.91-billion in the quarter that ended Dec. 31, and full-year revenue was up 7 per cent to US$7.26-billion.
This year, Thomson Reuters expects to match or surpass that pace of growth, predicting revenue will rise by 7 to 7.5 per cent. For 2026, the company raised its target range for revenue growth to 7.5 to 8 per cent.
The information software provider’s bullish outlook stems in part from optimism that its customers – most of which are professionals in law, tax, accounting and other corporate roles – will embrace AI and buy subscriptions to new software products underpinned by the technology. Thomson Reuters spent more than US$200-million to build AI into its products last year, and expects to keep up a similar pace of investment this year.
In January, Chinese startup DeepSeek shook markets with the release of powerful but inexpensive new AI models, raising questions about U.S. dominance of the fast-growing technology. Thomson Reuters chief executive officer Steve Hasker said the company is looking at DeepSeek “with some curiosity, with some questions, but we look at it with optimism.”
To the extent that it reduces the cost of AI models and makes them easier to build, “it places even greater emphasis on having unique and proprietary content, which is what we have,” Mr. Hasker said in an interview on Thursday.
Similarly, Thomson Reuters is not expecting upheaval from potential trade wars – set off by U.S. President Donald Trump’s aggressive threats of tariffs against Canada, Mexico and China – to have a material impact on its business. The company primarily sells software and information rather than tangible goods, and it has relatively few customers in the most vulnerable industries.
Instead, a period of heightened uncertainty “can be and often is a positive” for Thomson Reuters, Mr. Hasker said, creating extra demand for products that help companies manage change. The managing partner of a tax and accounting firm told Mr. Hasker over dinner this week that “the phone has just not stopped ringing since the new administration came in.”
“It creates additional demand, both for our content-driven software tools like our global trade product. And it also creates additional demand for our customers,“ he said.
For the three months that ended Dec. 31, Thomson Reuters reported profit of US$587-million, or US$1.30 per share, compared with US$678-million or US$1.49 in the same quarter last year.
After adjusting to exclude lost revenue from businesses the company sold as well as other one-time factors, Thomson Reuters said it earned US$1.01 per share. That beat the consensus estimate of 96 US cents per share, according to data from the London Stock Exchange Group.
Woodbridge Co. Ltd., the Thomson family holding company and controlling shareholder of Thomson Reuters, also owns The Globe and Mail.
Thomson Reuters’s quarterly results “continue to show positive momentum,” said Scotia Capital Inc. analyst Maher Yaghi, in a note to clients. With low debt and about US$10-billion of available capital to spend on acquisitions or upgrades to its existing businesses over the coming years, “the company is very well positioned to continue to leverage investments in AI and M&A to grow financial results.”
Thomson Reuters also announced it is backing a second, US$150-million fund for its venture capital arm, Thomson Reuters Ventures.