23 April 2026
Relx, the analystics company's trading update was brief but reassuring, with management commenting that the year has started well in all four business areas with strong underlying revenue and profit growth.
Management highlighted the ongoing shift in business mix to higher growth analytics and decision tools as supporting growth, and the value of combining their unique and comprehensive datasets with AI. Within the segments, both Scientific, Techcnical and Medical (STM) and Legal continue to see usage growth in AI-enabled tools, supporting Relx’s case to be a winner from AI. Some disruption is expected in the Exhibitions segment as a result of the conflict in the Middle East, but positively strong underlying growth and margin improvement are still expected.
The FY outlook was reiterated with Relx continuing to see positive momentum across the group and expecting another year of strong underlying growth in revenue.
In terms of valuation, Relx has sharply derated, despite a recovery more recently, and now trades on just 17x 2027 earnings, down from the peak of around 31x and a significant discount to US peers. We continue to view this derating as overdone and continued solid results are supportive, although it will clearly take much longer to dispel AI fears. Relx now offers a 7% distribution yield through buybacks and dividends.
