Reuters shares plunge

Shares in Reuters have fallen 23% after the financial information giant reported a drop in sales and warned of continuing problems.

We see market conditions worsening as financial services firms retrench still further

Tom Glocer, chief executive, Reuters

The company said sales in the July to September quarter had fallen 7%.

And it said it expected the decline in its core business to accelerate next year.

Reuters, which provides real-time news and data mainly to banks, brokers and fund managers, has fallen on hard times.

Its clients are struggling with falling share markets, and profits have collapsed at Instinet, its US-based electronic trading subsidiary.

Shares under pressure

"Our customers are enduring the toughest market conditions for decades, and recent weeks have seen further sharp declines," chief executive Tom Glocer said.

Tom Glocer has already made cuts

"Looking ahead, we see market conditions worsening as financial services firms retrench still further."

He said that as a result the company expected its revenue to fall by 7-9% in the first half of next year.

Before this latest announcement Reuters shares had lost 70% of their value this year.

On Wednesday, they fell 23% to 160.75 pence.

Grim outlook

Reuters reported revenues of £855m ($1.33bn) for the three months to the end of September, compared with analysts' forecasts of about £880m.

The company has cut about 1,660 jobs, a tenth of its workforce, in the past year.

In July, it reported its first loss as a listed firm, caused largely by heavy restructuring charges to pay for the job cuts and to streamline the business.