The results are at the lower end of analysts' forecasts, which averaged £330m. By 11am its shares were down 6.61% to 552.5p having opened at 592p.
Reuters has been hit by the downturn as some of its biggest clients, mostly investment banks, have been shedding jobs, with Merrill Lynch axing 9,000 staff in the fourth quarter of 2001 alone.
Revenues for the group were up by 8%, to £3.9bn, but remained flat in the last quarter of the year.
The company has been undergoing a gruelling cost-cutting strategy aimed at allowing customers to access its service online, while helping reduce costs and staff numbers.
The company shed 1,600 staff, or 8% of its workforce, in an attempt to reduce costs by as much as £235m annually by 2003. It reported that the measures had saved it £65m in 2001.
It says it expects underlying subscription revenues to decline by 2%-3% in the first half of the year, but that normalised operating margins will improve from 7% in 2001 to 12% in 2002.
Tom Glocer, Reuters chief executive, described the performance as "resilient".
"We have continued to make good progress on the business transformation programme and are ahead of previously announced targets for cost savings," he said.
Reuters shares have fallen 42% this year, underperforming the European media sector by about 8%.
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