McGraw-Hill Co. reported its fourth-quarter earnings to jump by 44% as the textbook publisher and financial-information provider witnessed its per-share profit and revenue rose for the first time in more than two years.

It registered a profit of $167.3 million, or 53 cents a share, up from $115.9 million, or 37 cents per share. Excluding a gain from its sale of BusinessWeek magazine in the latest results and the previous year's charge for job cuts, per-share earnings witnessed a jump to 51 from 42 cents.

The New York Company has depended on credit rather than Standard & Poor's Ratings Services for profit growth in recent years, which proved a liability during the credit crisis but has lifted earnings again with the revival of debt issuance.

Recently, new corporate issuance supported to raise S&P Credit Market Services revenue by 19%.

"Continued recovery in the corporate new issue market here and overseas at Standard & Poor's Credit Market Services and an upswing in higher education, professional and international markets enabled us to finish 2009 positively and set the stage for more growth in 2010", said Chief Executive Harold McGraw III.

In addition, the textbook publisher and financial-information provider also speculates its 2010 earnings as $2.55 to $2.65 per share, predominately above the $2.56 average per-share estimate from a survey of analysts by Thomson Reuters.