RELX posts good underlying growth in first half

Global professional information and analytics company RELX Group posted its interim results for the six months to 30 June on Thursday, reporting continued underlying growth in revenue, operating profit and earnings in the first half of of the year.

The FTSE 100 firm saw underlying revenue growth of 4% to £3,257m or €4,169m.

Underlying adjusted operating profit growth grew 6% to £1,003m or €1,284m, with underlying revenue and adjusted operating profit growth across all four business areas.

Adjusted earnings per share grew 8% overall at constant currencies - it improved 13% to 34.0p and 6% to €0.435.

Reported earnings per share for RELX plc was 26.9p, up from 21p, and for RELX NV was €0.344, up from €0.313.

The group’s board declared Interim dividend growth of 39% to 10.25p for RELX PLC and of 6% to €0.122 for RELX NV.

It claimed to be in a strong financial and cash flow position, with a leverage of 2.4x EBITDA, pensions & lease adjusted.

Approximately £500m share buybacks were completed in the first half, with a further £200m to be deployed in remainder of 2016.

“RELX Group has continued to execute well on its strategic priorities, and the slight improvement in our revenue growth rate in the first half reflects the progress that has been made,” said chairman Anthony Habgood.

“We have announced a larger than usual interim dividend increase [for the plc] primarily due to exchange rate movements, [and] our full year dividend policy is unchanged.”

Chief executive officer Erik Engstrom said the group achieved good underlying revenue growth in the first half, and continued to generate underlying operating profit growth ahead of revenue growth.

“Our number one priority remains the organic development of increasingly sophisticated information-based analytics and decision tools that deliver enhanced value to our customers.

“We believe that the systematic evolution of our business is driving an improvement in our business profile and the quality of our earnings, with more predictable revenues, a higher growth profile, and improving returns,” Engstrom said.

“As we enter the second half of 2016, key trends across our business are unchanged, and we are confident that, by continuing to execute on our strategy, we will deliver another year of underlying revenue, profit, and earnings growth in 2016.”