25th Jul 2019 08:40
(Alliance News) - Scientific, technical, and medical material publisher RELX PLC on Thursday lifted its dividend after reporting earnings growth in the first half of 2019.
Pretax profit for the six months to the end of June climbed 15% to GBP1.00 billion from GBP872 million reported a year ago.
RELX reported revenue growth of 6% in the first half of 2019 to GBP3.89 billion. On an underlying basis, revenue advanced by 3%.
The underlying growth rate reflects good growth in electronic and face-to-face revenue, and the further development of RELX analytics and decision tools, RELX said, partially offset by continued print revenue declines.
In the first half of 2019, the FTSE 100-listed firm said it has completed eight acquisitions of content, data analytics and exhibition assets for a total consideration of GBP246 million, and disposed of five assets for a total of GBP45 million.
RELX increased its interim payout by 10% to 13.6 pence. The company deployed GBP400 million on share buybacks in the first half, and intend to pay a further GBP200 million in the second half, bringing the full-year total to GBP600 million.
Of the GBP200 million proposed for the second half, some GBP50 million has already been completed.
Looking ahead, RELX said its customer environment remains largely unchanged from recent years, and it expects another year of "modest" underlying revenue growth, with underlying operating profit growth exceeding underlying revenue growth.
"RELX continued to make good progress in the first half of 2019, with underlying revenue and adjusted operating profit growth across all four business areas, and recent acquisitions performing well," said Chief Executive Erik Engstrom.
"As we enter the second half of 2019 key business trends for the full year are in line with the full year 2018," added Engstrom.
RELX shares were trading 4.8% lower on Thursday in London at 1,846.50 pence each.
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