It’s all ok at the good ship RELX says press release
- RELX Plc forecast “strong” revenue and profit growth this year, with underlying revenue, adjusted operating profit and adjusted earnings per share set to grow in 2026.
- The company’s share decline so far this year has been part of a larger market selloff due to concerns that new artificial intelligence products will threaten its business.
- RELX’s Chief Executive Officer Erik Engstrom presented the acceleration in AI as an opportunity, citing the company’s large trove of proprietary data and its AI tools, including the new LexisNexis Protégé assistant for lawyers.
RELX Plc, the British information and analytics company that owns the LexisNexis and Elsevier brands, forecast “strong” revenue and profit growth this year, working to ease investor concerns that new artificial intelligence products will threaten its business.
Underlying revenue, adjusted operating profit and adjusted earnings per share on a constant currency basis are set to grow in 2026, RELX said in a statement on Thursday. The shares, which are down 32% so far this year in London, were little changed at 2,015 pence at 9:36 a.m. after earlier gaining as much as 4.9%.
RELX’s share decline so far this year has been part of a larger market selloff that’s hitting everything from enterprise software to banks as investors dump stocks likely to be disrupted by the technology. The company makes products for the legal, scientific and financial services industries, which are likely to be disrupted by sophisticated AI tools.
Those results were a “much needed solid print” for the company in a turbulent stock market, Morgan Stanley analysts including George Webb said in a note after the results. “One set of robust numbers will not resolve broad sector debates, but it’s a necessary piece of the jigsaw.”
Chief Executive Officer Erik Engstrom presented the acceleration in AI as an opportunity. RELX’s asset is its large trove of proprietary data, and it has offered AI tools to help extract and analyze information for the past decade. More recently, it’s also rolled out generative AI technology and has said it spends $1.9 billion annually on development.
Anthropic PBC released a tool last week that will help lawyers with research and to manage workflows, sparking a $285 billion one-day market selloff in stocks across several industries. Other AI startups, like Legora and Harvey AI, have been building products to make lawyers’ jobs easier for years, but Anthropic’s plugin can be customized for specific industry needs.
Engstrom said that RELX’s data set will differentiate the company and its new AI assistant for lawyers, LexisNexis Protégé, from challengers. That and the company’s “deep customer understanding” will deliver “unique insights and significant value to our customers,” he said on a call with analysts.
RELX said sales rose to £9.59 billion ($13.1 billion) in 2025. That missed the average analyst forecast for £9.69 billion, according to estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Adjusted operating profit was £3.3 billion, in line with estimates.
The company also proposed a £2.25 billion share buyback program for 2026.
