25th Jul 2024 10:21
(Alliance News) - Relx PLC on Thursday predicted further earnings growth as it said improved margins helped drive an increase in first half profit.
Chief Executive Officer Erik Engstrom said Relx delivered "strong revenue and profit growth in the first half of 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."
In the six months that ended June 30, the London-based professional information and analytics firm said pretax profit rose 7.4% to GBP1.45 billion from GBP1.35 billion a year prior.
Relx said efforts to manage cost growth below revenue growth led to an improvement in the group adjusted operating margin to 34.1% from 33.0%.
Revenue climbed 3.1% to GBP£4.64 billion from GBP4.50 billion, or by 7% on an underlying basis. Electronic revenue, representing 84% of the total, also grew by 7%, with strong growth in face-to-face activity offsetting the print decline.
Reported earnings per share rose 13% to 52.6 pence from 46.0p.
Relx hiked its interim dividend by 7.1% to 18.2p from 17.0p.
"We continue to see positive momentum across the group, and we expect another year of strong underlying growth in revenue and adjusted operating profit, as well as strong growth in adjusted earnings per share on a constant currency basis," Rexl said in a statement.
Shares in Relx rose 1.2% to 3,522.00p in London on Thursday, bucking the weaker market trend. The wider FTSE 100 was down 0.9%.
By Jeremy Cutler, Alliance News reporter
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