RELX report as follows:
Chief Executive Officer, Erik Engstrom, commented: “RELX delivered strong revenue and profit growth in 2024. Our improving long-term growth trajectory continues to be driven by the ongoing shift in business mix towards higher growth analytics and decision tools that deliver enhanced value to our customers across market segments.
“We develop and deploy these tools across the company by leveraging deep customer understanding to combine leading content and data sets with powerful artificial intelligence and other technologies. This has been a key driver of the evolution of our business for well over a decade, and will remain a key driver of customer value and growth in our business for many years to come.”
Revenue £9,434m (£9,161m); underlying growth +7%: Electronic revenue representing 83% of the total, also grew +7%, with the strong growth in face-to-face activity offsetting the print decline.
Adjusted operating profit £3,199m (£3,030m); underlying growth +10%: Our strategy of driving continuous process innovation to manage cost growth below revenue growth led to an improvement in the group adjusted operating margin to 33.9% (33.1%).
Reported operating profit £2,861m (£2,682m): Reported operating profit includes amortisation of acquired intangible assets of £258m (£280m).
Adjusted profit before tax £2,903m (£2,716m): The adjusted net interest expense was £296m (£314m). The average interest rate on gross debt was 4.4% (4.6%).
Reported profit before tax £2,557m (£2,295m). Reported net interest was £298m (£315m).
Tax: The adjusted tax charge was £652m (£553m). The adjusted effective tax rate was 22.5% (20.4%). The reported tax charge was £613m (£507m).
Adjusted EPS 120.1p (114.0p) +5%; constant currency growth +9%. Reported EPS 103.6p (94.1p).
Dividend: We are proposing a full year dividend of 63.0p (58.8p), an increase of +7%.
Portfolio development: In 2024 we completed five small acquisitions for a total consideration of £195m, and seven small disposals for a total consideration of £95m.
Net debt/EBITDA 1.8x (2.0x): Net debt at 31 December 2024 was £6,563m (£6,446m). EBITDA was £3,724m (£3,544m). Adjusted cash flow conversion was 97% (98%).
Share buybacks: We deployed £1,000m on share buybacks in 2024. In recognition of our strong financial position and cash flow we intend to deploy a total of £1,500m on share buybacks in 2025, of which £150m has already been completed.
Corporate responsibility and sustainability: We performed well on our corporate responsibility priorities in 2024, on our unique contributions to society, and on our key metrics. Our performance was again recognised by external agencies: RELX achieved a AAA MSCI rating for a ninth consecutive year, ranked second in our sector by Sustainalytics, and was included in the S&P Global Sustainability Yearbook.
To read the full financial results click here.
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