Reuters profits fall

Reuters profits were down £26m (€38.2m) 1.4% to £530m (€778m) in the first quarter of 2005, compared with the same period last year.

The company reported total revenue of £561m (€823.6m), down 6.2%.

Tom Glocer, Reuters Group chief executive, said: “We have made a good start to the year, with positive net sales in every month and new product launches including Reuters Trading for Fixed Income and Reuters Trader for China.

“We have also made good progress on strategic initiatives. Our network services agreement with BT, including the planned sale of Radianz, is another key step towards completing our Fast Forward programme and the pending purchase of Moneyline Telerate will accelerate our push into the fixed income market.”