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Solid outlook
RELX PLC (REL:LON) | 3,967 -476 (-0.3%) | Mkt Cap: 73,023m
- Published:
19 Feb 2024 -
Author:
Packer William WP | Kassab Sami SK -
Pages:
11 -
Relx delivered a solid FY23 results
Relx reported underlying revenue growth of 8% for FY23 in line with expectations. Group adj. op. margins came 30bps ahead of expectations and drove a 2% EPS beat. All divisions performed in line with or ahead of expectations with Risk at 8%, Legal at 6% and STM at 4%. Exhibitions did better at 30%.
Outlook in line
Management guided that it expects ''another year of strong underlying growth in revenue and adjusted operating profit''. It commented that: 1) its scholarly journal subscription renewal campaign was running ahead of last year, 2) it has seen very good uptake of Lexis+ AI, 3) Insurance growth was lapping tougher comps but that Business Services had seen accelerating momentum in Risk. Relx expects STM and Legal orgrev growth to gradually accelerate.
Exhibitions: a higher growth, higher margin, higher value asset
Management is bullish on RX as it expects the division to see higher growth and higher margins than preCovid. We estimate digital products are an increasingly important driver of revenue growth. We think a disposal in FY24 is unlikely but continue to believe it may be on the agenda in the mid term.
TP raised to GBP39 suggesting some 15% upside left
We have trimmed our EPS on forex and lower-than-expected increase in the share buyback. Our FY24 orgrev growth is unchanged and our group margins are raised by 20bps on RX. Our revised mid term growth forecasts for RX coupled to the SOP/DCF roll over drive most of our TP increase. We continue to see Relx orgrev growth accelerating driven by an improving product mix resulting in higher client retention rates and ARPU. Gen AI is also likely to drive cost efficiency gains. We stand 3% ahead of VA Cons. on EPS24 with higher orgrev growth forecasts in STM (5.1% vs. 4.3%) and Legal (7.1% vs. 6.5%). With 15% upside, Relx remains our top pick in Media and Internet.