Reuters, the news and information provider, said yesterday that its latter day conversion to the internet continued to gain momentum as it reported a 9% increase in revenues for the first half to £1.7bn.

Chief executive Peter Job outlined the company's intent to climb on board the internet in February and since then Reuters has embarked on a series of new ventures. Its strategy is to move the core business onto the web, open new retail markets and broadly accelerate its use of the internet.

The main driver for the growth in turnover was a 50% improvement in revenues at electronic broking division Instinet to £381m.

Group operating profits were 3% better at £285m for the first half before a £41m charge to pay for taking the core business online. That charge will be higher in the second half. The company said the flotation of its new media investment business the Greenhouse Fund and In stinet were still under consideration but added that it would not be rushed while market conditions remained uncertain. Shares in the company were marked up 46p to £13.04.

Paul Richards, media analyst at investment bank West LB Panmure, said the company was "firing on all cylinders.

"A few years ago Reuters was a big, sleepy giant with all the right content which it wasn't making the most of. It's now embracing the internet as a low cost distribution method and is gaining exponential momentum," he said.

Reuters also announced the development of a service with Tibco Software, data group Equant and Yahoo to help businesses build their own websites.

The Greenhouse Fund generated £42m from disposals during the half year and still had £243m of investments in a portfolio of 60 companies. A number of stock market flotations of companies in which the fund held a stake have taken place including Orchestream in Britain and Virage in the United States.