26th Jul 2018 11:52
LONDON (Alliance News) - RELX PLC on Thursday launched a share buyback programme amid confidence in delivering a year of earnings growth.
Under the programme, the business publisher and analytics company said it intends to repurchase shares up to the value of GBP125 million in total between Thursday and October 24.
Previously, the company had said it planned to repurchase GBP700 million in shares during 2018. Since January, RELX has bought back 33.8 million shares, worth GBP525 million. It said it will buyback the remaining planned GBP50 million by the end of calendar 2018.
The purpose of the programme is to reduce the capital of RELX, it said. The company intends to hold purchased shares in treasury.
Early on Thursday, RELX said the six months to June 30 saw revenue down 1.4% to GBP3.65 billion from GBP3.70 billion the year before, while adjusted profit before tax remained broadly flat at GBP1.05 billion.
The FTSE 100-listed Anglo-Dutch company said its results were hit by a revenue decline in print division, which offset good growth in electronic and face-to-face revenue.
RELX declared an interim dividend increase of 6.0% to 12.40 pence from 11.70p paid for the same period a year earlier.
The company said that as it enters the second half of 2018, it is confident in delivering another year of underlying revenue, profit, and earnings growth.
"Our number one priority remains the organic development of increasingly sophisticated information-based analytics and decision tools that deliver enhanced value to our customers," added Chief Executive Erik Engstrom.
Shares in RELX were up 2.9% at 1,727.00p early on Thursday.
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