Shares 'tale of two cities' - Tom Glocer

The discount widened after the price fell 5 per cent in London but rose 1.5 per cent in New York on Tuesday’s slightly downbeat second quarter results, it said.

Chief executive Tom Glocer said he was puzzled by the continued London discount and he was looking to reduce the gap, the newspaper reported.

“It’s a tale of two cities,” he said. “The North American investors know the professional side of the business well, and have got their heads around the markets division, but then in London, we trade at around a 20 per cent discount.”

The discount was at 19.5 per cent today. The shares closed at 1481 pence, down 77, in London, and $34.98 (1840 pence) in late trading in New York.

“It is a bit puzzling why there is such a large discount as a share in one place is exactly economically equal to another,” Glocer said.

He acknowledged that US investors are buying shares in London purely to get a discount. “That’s something we’re looking at when we repurchase shares,” Glocer said. Thomson Reuters has just completed a $500 share buyback programme.

The Daily Telegraph said Glocer played down concerns about the company’s growth rate, saying that to achieve 7 per cent “12 months into this serious financial crisis” looks like “a very good number to us”. Growth will temper but it will not “fall off a cliff the way it did in 2002-03”, he added.

The newspaper noted that the markets division, whose main business is providing financial news, data feeds and trading platforms to financial institutions, has recently introduced commentary and analysis articles by journalists.

“Mr Glocer defended the move, saying it was not at odds with the Reuters Trust principles of independence and freedom from bias.

“He said the analysis pieces would look into specific situations, and were in response to customer demand for views as well as news.” ■