Relx (NYSE:RELX) reported what management described as “strong financial results” for 2025, driven by continued momentum across its four business areas and an ongoing shift toward higher-growth analytics and decision tools. On the call, the company said underlying revenue grew 7% and underlying adjusted operating profit rose 9%, helping lift the adjusted operating margin by just under one percentage point to 34.8%. Adjusted earnings per share increased 10% at constant currency.
2025 results: revenue, margin expansion, and cash generation
Chief Financial Officer Nick Luff said the company’s 2025 performance translated into strong cash generation, with cash conversion of 99%. EBITDA was over GBP 3.8 billion and capital expenditure was GBP 555 million, which management said equated to about 5% of revenue. After interest and tax, free cash flow was over GBP 2.3 billion.
On capital returns, the company completed a GBP 1.5 billion share buyback during 2025 and paid GBP 1.2 billion in dividends. Management proposed a 7% increase in the full-year dividend to 67.5 pence per share. Net debt ended the year at GBP 7.2 billion (including pensions), with net debt to EBITDA at 2.0x—at the low end of Relx’s stated typical range of 2.0x to 2.5x.
Business segment performance and drivers
Management emphasized that all four business areas performed well and that, in each area, underlying adjusted operating profit growth exceeded underlying revenue growth.
- Risk: Underlying revenue growth of 8% and underlying adjusted operating profit growth of 10%. Management attributed performance to “deeply embedded AI-enabled analytics and decision tools,” with over 90% of divisional revenue coming from machine-to-machine interactions. Business Services and Insurance each represented about 40% of divisional revenue, with growth linked to financial crime compliance, digital fraud and identity solutions, contributory databases, and market-specific insurance solutions.
- Scientific, Technical & Medical (STM): Underlying revenue growth of 5% and underlying adjusted operating profit growth of 7%. Executives pointed to improving momentum from a shift toward higher-value analytics and tools and a faster pace of new product introductions. Databases, tools, and electronic reference (around 40% of divisional revenue) grew strongly, while Primary Research (a little over half of divisional revenue) benefited from volume growth; the number of articles submitted rose more than 20% in 2025 and articles published increased 10%.
- Legal: Underlying revenue growth improved to 9%, with underlying adjusted operating profit growth of 12%. Management said results were driven by mix shift toward higher-growth legal analytics and tools. In law firms and corporate legal (around 70% of divisional revenue), the company cited double-digit growth tied to adoption of Lexis+ AI and “integrated agentic assistance,” including Lexis+ AI and Protégé.
- Exhibitions: Underlying revenue growth of 8% and underlying adjusted operating profit growth of 9%. Management said margins were “significantly above historical levels” and that results reflected an improved portfolio and progress on digital initiatives.
Print-related step-down and portfolio effects
Luff noted that Relx separated reporting of print and print-related revenues and profits due to changes in how it manages print distribution. The company said it continued proactive steps to reduce involvement in print-related activities, resulting in a revenue reduction of more than 20% for those activities in 2025.
For the group overall, total revenue growth at constant currency was 4% after portfolio effects in Risk, Legal, and Exhibitions and after the step-down in print. In sterling, total revenue growth was 2%, which management said was impacted by the relative strength of the pound against the dollar versus the prior year. Luff added that print-related profit declined, but at a lower rate than revenue, and he said the company expects profits from print and print-related activities to continue to decline in the high single digits each year, consistent with historical trends.
AI strategy, competition questions, and product adoption
During Q&A, executives addressed investor questions about competitive threats from other software companies in AI-enabled workflow tools, especially in Legal. Luff said the company was seeing the “opposite” of weakening demand, citing adoption and usage trends. He stated that the enterprise-wide subscription customer base for Lexis+ AI “more than doubled in the past year,” with “multiple hundreds of thousands” of users globally and usage growing faster than the customer base.
Chief Executive Erik Engstrom stressed that the company’s strategy begins with “uniquely differentiated, comprehensive content,” combined with technology to create customer value. He said Relx has used a “technology agnostic” and “tool agnostic, multi-model architecture” approach since the early stages of the GenAI trend and has partnered with multiple large language model providers, including Anthropic and OpenAI, while continuously testing new releases with customers.
Executives also discussed Protégé workflows. Engstrom said the company initially discussed “on the order of” 50 workflows, but the rollout has expanded to “nearing 300” workflows, with the ability to launch “another 2 or 3 a day.” Management described these as content-related workflows embedded in Relx platforms, while positioning other legal tech workflow tools as complementary and often interoperable rather than direct competition. Engstrom cited roughly 25 existing partnerships in Legal with workflow and software-related companies.
Outlook, capital allocation, and buyback update
Looking ahead, management said it expects another year of strong underlying growth in revenue and adjusted operating profit, along with strong adjusted EPS growth on a constant currency basis. Executives reiterated expectations that underlying adjusted operating profit growth will exceed underlying revenue growth across the business areas, and Exhibitions is expected to improve adjusted operating margin versus the prior full year.
On the balance between investment, acquisitions, and buybacks, Luff said organic development remains the top priority, with capital expenditure consistently around 5% of revenue. He said acquisitions are considered when they “enhance and accelerate” what the company is doing, but emphasized that M&A is not the core of the strategy. Reflecting leverage at the low end of the target range, Relx announced a GBP 2.25 billion share buyback for 2026, with GBP 250 million already deployed.
In additional segment commentary, management said Risk’s 8% underlying revenue growth included a slightly higher contribution from new products (described as 6% from new products and 2% from older products, versus 5% and 3% in prior years), but executives cautioned against overinterpreting the shift. In STM, Engstrom said the addressable market for tools like Scopus AI includes institutional customers and potentially a broader base of individual researchers, noting that researchers globally are often estimated at “a little bit above 10 million,” while acknowledging that academic purchasing cycles tend to be slower.
About Relx (NYSE:RELX)
RELX plc is a global provider of information, analytics and decision tools for professional and business customers. The company supplies content, data and analytical services that support decision-making across scientific, technical and medical research, legal and regulatory practice, and risk and business analytics. RELX’s offerings are largely delivered via digital platforms and subscription services designed for institutions, corporations and professionals who require specialized, high-value information and workflow solutions.
RELX operates through distinct business lines that include Elsevier, which provides scientific, technical and medical journals, books and online platforms such as research and discovery tools; Legal and Professional services, which deliver legal, regulatory and compliance content and workflow solutions; Risk & Business Analytics, which offers data, analytics and decision tools for insurance, banking, corporate and government risk assessment; and Exhibitions, which organizes industry trade shows and events.
