Thursday 10 February 2022 7:51 am

Relx beats expectations for full year earnings as profits hit £1.69bn

Relx has pumped millions into acquisition in recent years with £255m spent on snapping up 12 companies in 2021.

Telecoms, media and tech group Relx has beaten full year earning expectations with investors pocketing 87.6p per share amid soaring profits.

The FTSE 100 group saw net profits climb by 17 per cent to £1.69bn while underlying revenue jumped by seven per cent to £7.24bn, Relx revealed in full year results published today. The board is proposing a bumper dividend payout of 49.8p per share which will boost investor earnings which already beat forecasts from analysts at Factset predicting 87.2p per share.

“RELX delivered strong underlying revenue and profit growth in 2021,” said chief executive Erik Engstrom.

“We believe that this improved trajectory is a reflection of our ongoing strategy of focusing on the organic development of increasingly sophisticated analytics and decision tools that deliver enhanced value to our customers across market segments. Recent acquisitions, which have supplemented our organic growth strategy, have continued to perform well,” he continued.

Formerly heavily reliant on its publishing division Relx has diversified over the past two decades. The proportion of company revenue from print has fallen from 64 per cent in 2000 to just seven per cent today while the proportion of electronic revenue has climbed from just over a fifth to 86 per cent of company revenue.

Revenues at the company’s risk were up 9 per cent this year, while intake for Scientific, Technical and Medical activities were up three per cent, legal climbed three per cent and intake from exhibitions soared by 44 per cent year on year. The company also completed a string of acquisitions in 2021, snapping up 12 companies at a total cost of £255m.

“Based on the improved performance in 2021 across the company, we expect 2022 full year underlying growth rates in revenue and adjusted operating profit, as well as constant currency growth in adjusted earnings per share, to remain above historical trends,” a Relx spokesperson said in a statement.