Sales at Reuters, the news and information firm, outpaced cancellations in the three months to September 30 for the first time since 2001, but subscription revenue, which represents 93% of the firm's income, fell 4.4% to £528m (€560m).

This was marginally better than the 5% drop Reuters had predicted and down from the 15% drop in subscription revenue in the preceding quarter. Revenue from the new sales typically follows between one and three months after sales. The news helped lift Reuters's share price 7% during morning trading to 350p at 13:25 GMT.