UPDATE 1-Thomson Reuters reports higher first-quarter sales, profit

(Adds details from press release, file photos, bylines)

By Helen Coster and Kenneth Li

May 2 (Reuters) - Thomson Reuters Corp on Tuesday reported higher sales and operating profit in the first quarter, helped by divestitures and high customer retention rates.

The news and information company reported adjusted earnings of 82 cents per share. It was not immediately clear if that compared directly to analyst forecasts for 80 cents.

Total revenue rose 4% in the quarter to $1.738 billion, beating expectations, according to estimates from Refinitiv.

Thomson Reuters, which owns the Westlaw legal database, Reuters news agency and the Checkpoint tax and accounting service, said organic revenue was up 7% for its "Big 3" segments: Legal Professionals, Corporates and Tax & Accounting Professionals.

"While we acknowledge elevated macroeconomic uncertainty, our underlying business is resilient, and we are largely maintaining our 2023 outlook,” Chief Executive Office Steve Hasker said in a statement. “We are also excited about recent developments in AI, which we believe will provide plentiful opportunities to better serve our customers as we continue to invest in their future."

Thomson Reuters said it is reaffirming full year 2023 financial forecasts, but trimmed its 2023 total revenue growth forecast to 3% to 3.5% from 4.5% to 5% from the sale of a majority take in legal business management software company Elite to TPG.

The company said it sold 24.5 million shares of LSEG in the first quarter for gross proceeds of $2.3 billion.

(Reporting by Helen Coster and Kenneth Li in New York, Editing by Nick Zieminski)