Shares in Reuters, the financial information group, plunged to a twelve year low this morning after the company revealed disappointing results for the third quarter.
The volatility of the world’s stock markets has convinced many banks and investment firms of the need to re-evaluate spending and Reuters has seen subscription and one-off sales fall by 8% on an underlying basis. Subscription revenues alone were down by 5.7% in Q3 and insiders are predicting an overall fall of 6%-7% for the second half of the year.
“Our customers are enduring the toughest market conditions for decades, and recent weeks have seen further sharp declines,” admitted Reuters chief executive Tom Glover. “Looking ahead, we see market conditions worsening as financial services firms retrench still further. As a result, we expect our recurring revenue to decline by between 7% and 9% in the first half of next year,” he added.
Shares in the company lost more than 20% of their value in early trading and subsequently stood at 161žp at noon today.