World News

RR Donnelley has reported a 31% year-on-year rise in profits for the first quarter of the year, from $138.9m (£71.11m) to $182m.

This was achieved on sales of $3.0bn for the first quarter, up 7.3% from the first quarter of 2007.

The results reveal $2.2bn in sales for RR Donnelley's US print and related services segment, up by 6.6% on last year, and $756.4m in sales from its international operations, up by 9.5% on the same period in 2007.

Part of the rise in US sales was attributed to its acquisition of Von Hoffmann, Cardinal Brands, Perry Judd's, Banta and Pro Line, as well as sales increases of logistics services, labels and catalogues, offset, in part, by decreased sales of commercial print, directories and forms.

The US printing giant attributed the rise in profits to a fall in its tax rate to 16.3%, because of a $38m settlement over federal income tax audits for the years 2000 to 2002, in favour of RR Donnelley. This offset charges for restructuring the business, which added up to $6.9m.

It also gave some hope to the market by increasing the lower end of its forecast for the full-year, up from $3.05 per share to $3.08. The upper forecast remains the same, at $3.15 per share.

RR Donnelley president and chief executive Thomas Quinlan said: "In the context of a challenging economic environment, we benefited from both the ability to manage our customers' print spend across our broad product and service offering, and from the operational flexibility we have created through our historical platform investments."

Shares in the company, listed on the New York Stock Exchange, rose by 13 cents to $31.63 after the results were posted.