25th Feb 2016 07:49
LONDON (Alliance News) - Anglo-Dutch Business information and analytics group RELX PLC Thursday expressed confidence for a further growth in 2016, as it reported a rise in pretax profit for 2015.
It reported a pretax profit of GBP1.31 billion, up from GBP1.23 billion in 2014, as revenue rose to GBP5.97 billion from GBP5.77 billion.
On an adjusted basis, stripping out amortisation, acquisition and disposal related costs and other exceptional items, pretax profit rose 5% to GBP1.67 billion from GBP1.59 billion.
RELX reported adjusted earnings per share of 60.5 pence, up 7% from the 56.3 pence it reported in the previous year, and in line with consensus forecasts from analysts of 60.7 pence.
The company attributed its rise in revenue to continued growth in electronic and face-to-face revenue, which was partly offset by continued declines in traditional print revenue.
The company simplified its structure and changes its name from Reed Elsevier at the end of 2014, transferring the assets of its UK and Dutch parent companies into a single company to "increase transparency" for shareholders.
It proposed a full year dividend of 29.7 pence, up from 26.0 pence in 2014 for RELX PLC, and EUR0.403, up from EUR0.383 for RELX NV.
RELX said it had completed GBP500 million in share buybacks in 2015, and expects to undertake share buybacks of GBP700 million in 2016.
"Our number one priority remains the organic development of increasingly sophisticated information-based analytics and decision tools that deliver enhanced value to our customers. In 2015 we continued to support our organic strategy with a number of small acquisitions.Trends in the early part of 2016 are consistent with 2015 across our business, 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," said Chief Executive Officer Erik Engstrom in a statement.
By Hana Stewart-Smith; [email protected]; @HanaSSAllNews
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