23rd Jul 2015 06:46
LONDON (Alliance News) - Anglo-Dutch publisher RELX Group reiterated Thursday its outlook for 2015 as it posted a flat pretax profit for its first half, in its first results as a consolidated group.
The company, formerly known as Reed Elsevier, recently transferred the assets of its UK and Dutch parent companies into a new single group entity called RELX Group PLC.
RELX said it has now fully aligned the boards of the two parent companies. The move to the consolidated accounts has had no impact on any figures, RELX said, except for a minor positive restatement of the reported earnings per share for RELX NV.
RELX posted a pretax profit of GBP601 million for the half year to end-June, broadly flat from GBP606 million a year before, as a rise in revenue to GBP2.96 billion from GBP2.85 billion was offset by a rise in cost of sales and operating expenses. Acquisitions contributed 2% to revenue growth, RELX said, although this was offset by sales with reduced growth by 2%.
At constant currency and stripping out the results from acquisitions and disposals, RELX posted a pretax profit of GBP834 million, up from GBP791 million a year before, on revenue of GBP2.96 billion, up from GBP2.85 billion.
Operating costs increased as a result of investment in the company's technology platforms and the launch of new products and services.
It proposed an interim dividend of 7.40 pence for RELX PLC, up from 7.00 pence a year before.
"The key drivers within our business remain positive, and we are confident that we will deliver another year of underlying revenue, profit, and earnings growth in 2015," said Chief Executive Officer Erik Engstrom in a statement.
By Hana Stewart-Smith; [email protected]; @HanaSSAllNews
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