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28 Jul 2022
Acceleration in STM and Legal

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Acceleration in STM and Legal
RELX PLC (REL:LON) | 3,910 -4574.7 (-2.9%) | Mkt Cap: 72,113m
- Published:
28 Jul 2022 -
Author:
Kassab Sami SK -
Pages:
10 -
Relx delivered another solid performance in H1 22
Relx delivered a 6% EPS beat and 5% EBITA beat on a 6% revenue beat in H1 21. Revenues came ahead in all divisions with organic revenue growth beating consensus in STM, Legal and Exhibitions. At 7% Risk suffered tough comps and missed consensus but it is looks likely to accelerate in H2.
STM and Legal are picking up
Our bull case is based on the acceleration in organic revenue growth in STM and Legal. The H1 performance strongly supports our view. Management argued that the consensus-beating 4% orgrev growth in both division was all driven by structural improvements with no-one offs benefits. STM and Legal had not posted such a strong number in 15 years.
Risk slows temporarily but is likely to accelerate in H2
Management pointed to improving comps in H2 22 and to a pick-up in US car insurance shopping activity in recent weeks as well as in subscriptions to its Aviation databases. This leads us to believe that the Risk division is still on track to deliver on market expectations. Management suggested that this division was now less cyclical than in 2009 and had more resilient market exposure than peers. With 60% of its revenues generated from Transactions, a US macro slow down remains a key risk.
Trade shows recover faster than expected
Exhibitions revenues came in 2% ahead of our expectations and 23% ahead of consensus underpinning our scenario of a faster-than-expected business recovery. Profit growth was ahead too.
Outperform maintained
The positive performance of the Risk business in 2009 leads us to buy into the transactional exposure of this division despite the risk of a US recession. We remain Outperform and see scope for positive consensus revisions driven by the acceleration in STM, Legal and Exhibitions. Relx is a top pick in Media and Internet.