AI was supposed to destroy this £43-billion UK giant
Key Points
- RELX grew underlying revenue 7% to £4,871m and adjusted operating profit 9% to £1,727m in H1 2026
- Legal and STM, the divisions seen as most at risk from AI, accelerated to 10% and 6% growth
- Adjusted EPS rose 11% at constant currency to 68.6p, a 2% beat on expectations
- Interim dividend up 7% to 20.9p, with £1,750m of the £2,250m buyback completed
- Quilter Cheviot says the AI-driven derating looks overdone despite a lingering discount to US peers
RELX grew underlying revenue 7% to £4.8 billion in the first half of 2026, with its two divisions considered most exposed to AI disruption actually accelerating fastest.
The information and analytics group, which owns LexisNexis and scientific publisher Elsevier, carries a market capitalisation of approximately £43 billion and sat at the centre of this year’s sharp sell-off in software and data stocks, dubbed the ‘SaaSpocalypse’, on fears that large language models would erode demand for its legal and scientific products.
Its first-half results, published on Wednesday (22 July), showed adjusted operating profit up 9% to £1.7 billion and adjusted earnings per share up 11% at constant currency to 68.6p, a 2% beat on expectations.
The AI-exposed divisions led the acceleration
Matt Dorset, Equity Research Analyst at Quilter Cheviot, said growth in Legal and Scientific, Technical & Medical (STM), the two segments investors consider most at risk from AI, accelerated to 10% and 6% respectively.
“This is very positive and goes some way to pushback on AI fears, especially as the growth acceleration was supported by AI enabled analytics and tools,” Dorset said.
Chief Executive Erik Engstrom said the group delivered a step-up in growth in STM, a further step-up in Legal, continued strong growth in Risk and strong ongoing growth in Exhibitions.
Engstrom argued that AI strengthens rather than threatens the business. “The ongoing evolution of artificial intelligence is enabling us to add more value to our customers, to develop and launch higher value-add products at a faster pace, and continue to manage cost growth below revenue growth,” he said.
RELX’s strategy centres on combining its proprietary content and datasets with AI to build analytics and decision tools that command higher prices than the raw information they replace.
That mix shift lifted the adjusted operating margin to 35.5%, from 34.8% a year earlier.
Dividend up and buyback on track
RELX declared an interim dividend of 20.9p, a 7% increase, payable on 10 September 2026. The group completed £1.7 billion of its £2.2 billion share buyback in the first half, with a further £100 million done since 1 July and the remaining £400 million due before the end of the year.
Net debt stood at £8.7 billion at 30 June, or 2.3 times EBITDA, and adjusted cash flow conversion came in at 98%. The group completed two acquisitions in the half for £103 million.
Management reiterated its full year outlook, guiding to another year of strong underlying growth in revenue, adjusted operating profit and constant currency earnings per share. At divisional level, RELX upgraded its STM guidance to “strong” from “good to strong” previously.
A gap still remains
Dorset noted that the shares have only partly recovered from the derating and still trade at a significant discount to US peers.
“This derating looks overdone and continued solid and even accelerating results are supportive, although it will clearly take much longer to dispel AI fears,” he said.
RELX serves customers in more than 180 countries, employs more than 37,000 people and trades on the London, Amsterdam and New York stock exchanges, making it one of the largest companies listed in the UK.
