US Edition While revenues were roughly unchanged at £6.06bn last year, the absence of impairment charges - £177m last time - and greatly reduced restructuring costs saw full-year profits leap 77pc to £768m pre-tax.
"Most of our markets are stable or improving, and we are building on the actions taken in 2010 to strengthen the business further," said Reed, which publishes scientific and academic information and runs the world's biggest exhibitions business.
Analysts acknowledged Reed's focus on driving improved operational performance, but some were downbeat.
"The group's markets remain subdued due to late-cycle pressures on multi-year subscriptions, while Reed would give no indication of where it expected Legal margins to recover to," said Numis. "We do not regard Reed as expensive at 12 times earnings, but nor do we see any near-term catalysts to drive share price performance."
BarCap retained its 'underweight' stance, but said Reed may underperform rivals more highly geared to the advertising market such as ITV and Daily Mail & General Trust.
Reed's shares fell 12.5 to 561p.
Erik Engstrom, the group's chief executive, ruled out a sale of Reed Business Information, the division behind magazines such as Variety, but said he will consider smaller disposals within Reed's divisions.
Mr Engstrom said Risk Solutions, which grew underlying revenues at 6pc in 2010, is one of Reed's best-performing divisions. Its services are used by the US government.
He added that he would keep investments in Reed's legal business, Lexis Nexis, at about 8pc of sales compared with 5pc for the group, and would launch more products aimed at specific market segments.
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