McGraw-Hill posts sharply higher 1st-quarter profit

McGraw-Hill 1Q profit jumps sharply

NEW YORK — The McGraw-Hill Cos., which publishes textbooks and owns the ratings agency Standard & Poor’s, said Tuesday its first-quarter profit rose sharply, boosted in part by the bond market recovery and strength in its higher education business.

The company, which sold BusinessWeek magazine to Bloomberg LP in December, posted a profit of $103.3 million, or 33 cents per share for the period that ended March 31. That’s 64 percent more than the $63 million, or 20 cents per share, it earned a year earlier.

Revenue climbed 4 percent to $1.19 million from $1.15 million.

Analysts, on average, were expecting a profit of 25 cents per share on revenue of $1.19 billion, according to a poll by Thomson Reuters.

“Recovery in global bond markets, solid results in U.S. higher education, which is benefiting from double-digit growth in digital products and services, and an outstanding performance in global energy information markets were major factors in our first quarter,” said Harold McGraw III, the company’s chairman, president and CEO, in a statement.

The quarter’s expenses slid 2 percent to $1 billion from $1.02 billion.

McGraw-Hill said e-books, online courses and online homework management products all saw double-digit revenue increases during the quarter.

Its first-quarter financial services revenue rose 9.3 percent to $667.0 million, helped by favorable foreign exchange rates. Operating profit in the segment grew 12.3 percent to $260.0 million.

McGraw-Hill’s information and media revenue fell 8.5 percent to $206.2 million — though it grew 4.3 percent excluding the effect of selling BusinessWeek. The segment’s operating profit climbed 90 percent to $27.8 million.

The company kept its full-year earnings guidance of $2.55 to $2.65 per share. Analysts are expecting $2.62 per share.