Thomson Reuters Corp.'s (TRI) fourth-quarter net income jumped 51%, thanks largely to its April purchase of Reuters, though the combined company reported strength at its professional division.

The business information giant appeared to weather the effects of the global financial crisis and economic downturn in a quarter when market conditions deteriorated sharply. Moreover, it offered a forecast for 2009 that signaled confidence it can continue to show resilience, despite the ongoing meltdown in the financial industry - a key source of clients for Thomson Reuters.

Thomson Reuters also boosted its quarterly dividend 3.7% to 28 cents. As a result of that and the better-than-expected earnings, the company's stock recently rose 10.3% at $24.90. Before Tuesday, shares had fallen nearly 40% since the deal's close last April.

On a conference call with analysts, Thomson Reuters Chief Executive Tom Glocer said investors should expect subscription cancelations from some clients in the financial sector and elsewhere, but he said the company has picked up new business from the likes of Barclays and Nomura even as firms like Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers have disappeared, allowing it to retain the lion's share of its business.

Glocer also said the U.S. government is unlikely to allow major banks like Citigroup Inc. (C) and Bank of America Corp. (BAC) to fail, reducing the risk it could lose business from major financial institutions, and he expects activity in the legal profession resulting from financial frauds like the alleged misdeeds of Bernie Madoff to boost the company's professional division.

"We expect to see more and more litigation in 2009," Glocer said.

The company said it expects revenue to grow in 2009 based on current market environments, projecting a rosier scenario than investors were anticipating. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters had expected a 3% drop to $13.13 billion.

The company also said it expects its underlying operating margin to hold steady for the year, supported by revenue growth and expected savings from its recent merger, and it expects its underlying free cash flow to be comparable to 2008, adjusted for "certain timing related items."

Thomson Reuters' markets division has been a concern for investors as the financial industry reels from the collapse of major investment banks. Some analysts had predicted the company's revenue will fall in 2009 as job and budget cuts pervade the industry.

"There are still some risks going forward if the downturn continues to worsen, but [Thomson Reuters] managed to demonstrate with these results that they have a must-have product that brings in a lot of recurring revenue that are locked in regardless of the cycle," said Efraim Levy, equity analyst with Standard & Poor's.

Levy responded to the report by raising his Thomson Reuters earnings estimate for 2009 to $1.96 a share from $1.81, and he hiked his 12-month target price on the stock to $29 from $28. Levy maintained his hold rating on the shares.

Thomson Reuters posted net income of $657 million, or 79 cents a share, up from $434 million, or 67 cents a share, a year earlier. The company said its earnings adjusted to factor out the effects of the merger and other non-recurring items were 57 cents a share for the quarter, beating expectations on Wall Street for earnings of 43 cents a share on that basis.

Revenue increased 68% to $3.41 billion on the merger. Assuming the deal had closed prior to the year-earlier quarter, revenue would have been flat, or up 5% excluding currency fluctuations.

Glocer said the company continued to perform well as major economies slid into recession last year while also being able to accelerate the integration of Reuters and increase savings it expects to achieve.

"Costs are coming out of the business faster than we anticipated, and revenue is starting to flow as we leverage our global size," Glocer said.

Thomson Reuters' professional business saw 3% revenue growth, or 6% minus currency impacts, on gains in online, software and services revenue. Profit rose 8%. The legal segment, which includes the Westlaw research service, reported a 1% increase, or 6% excluding currency impacts. The gains were led by international online products and growth at Westlaw. Earnings climbed 4%.

About 60% of Thomson Reuters' revenue comes from its financial information services unit, with the rest generated from the professional operations such as legal and tax and accounting.

At the markets business, revenue dropped 2% on a pro-forma basis as currency fluctuations hurt the top line. Earnings rose 7% on higher margins.

-By Nat Worden, Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-5216; nat.worden@dowjones.com

(Kerry E. Grace contributed to this story)