RELX Plc (LON:REL) , the global professional information and analytics company, today announced nine months trading update 2018.
Underlying revenue growth +4% in the first nine months of 2018
Acquired seven assets for a total consideration of £943m year to date, and disposed of four assets for £28m
Completed £650m of the previously announced £700m share buyback, with the remainder to be deployed by year end
Completed corporate structure simplification into single parent company effective 8 September 2018
The full year outlook is unchanged: We are confident that we will deliver another year of underlying growth in revenue and in adjusted operating profit, together with growth in adjusted earnings per share on a constant currency basis.
Scientific, Technical & Medical
Underlying revenue growth +2%.
Key business trends remained positive. Overall, electronic revenues saw continued good growth partially offset by print declines. In primary research and databases & tools we continued to enhance the functionality and increase the sophistication of our analytics. Print book sales, which were stable in the first half, returned to historical rates of decline during the main Q3 selling season. Revenue trends for the remainder of the division were consistent with the first half.
Full year outlook: We continue to expect modest underlying revenue growth.
Risk & Business Analytics
Underlying revenue growth +8%.
Underlying revenue growth remained strong. Insurance continued to drive growth through enhanced analytics, the extension of datasets, and by further expansion in adjacent verticals. In Business Services, further development of analytics across the financial and corporate sectors continued to drive growth. Data Services drove growth through organic development and expansion across adjacent markets. Integration of recent acquisitions is progressing well.
Full year outlook: We expect underlying revenue growth trends to continue.
Legal
Underlying revenue growth +2%.
The market environment for legal services, and for legal information providers, remained stable. Electronic revenues saw continued growth, partially offset by print declines. The roll-out of new platform releases across our US and international markets continued, with broader datasets and the continued expansion of early stage legal analytics.
Full year outlook: Trends in our major customer markets are unchanged, continuing to limit the scope for underlying revenue growth.
Exhibitions
Underlying revenue growth +6%.
Strong underlying revenue growth continued. Growth remained good in Europe and strong in Japan and China. The US continued to see differentiated growth rates by industry sector. Most other markets continued to grow well.
Full year outlook: RELX expect underlying revenue growth trends to continue, with cycling-in effects to increase the reported revenue growth rate by four to five percentage points.
