Towers Watson Q3 Earnings Advance - Quick Facts

(RTTNews) - Towers Watson & Co. (TW) Tuesday reported a rise in earnings for the third quarter helped by lower transaction and integration expenses. Revenue increased by a modest 1 percent.

For the third quarter, net earnings rose to $102.51 million or $1.45 per share, from $94.92 million or $1.34 per share in the same period last year.

Excluding certain items, earnings from continuing operations were $112.73 million or $1.59 per share, compared with $102.21 million or $1.44 per share a year earlier.

On average, 11 analysts polled by Thomson-Reuters estimated the company's earnings to be $1.48 for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude one-time items.

Transaction and integration expenses plunged to $241,000 during the quarter, from $12.34 million a year ago.

For the three months to March, adjusted EBITDA increased to $183 million from $173 million a year ago.

Revenues for the 3-month period increased by 1 percent to $904.83 million from $892.98 million a year earlier. Analysts expected revenues of $918.39 million.

"Overall, revenue growth for the Americas Region came in as expected, but there was a general pull back in project work in the EMEA and Asia Pacific Regions, which drove the shortfalls in forecasted revenue," said John Haley, CEO of Towers Watson.

For fiscal 2014, the company expects adjusted earnings of $5.65 to $5.70 per share on revenues of $3.45 billion. The guidance assumes an average exchange rate of 1.62 U.S. dollars to the British Pound and 1.36 U.S. dollars to the Euro for fiscal 2014.

For the fourth quarter, Towers Watson expects, on a constant currency basis, adjusted earnings of $1.23 to $1.28 per share on revenues of $840 million to $855 million.

Analysts are currently looking for earnings of $5.63 per share on revenues of $3.5 billion for 2014 and earnings of $1.33 per share on revenues of $881.62 million for the fourth quarter.