Relx backs full-year guidance as organic revenue growth slows
Relx reported a slowdown in interim organic revenue growth on Thursday but backed its guidance for the full year.
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For the six months ended 30 June, the information and analytics company reported underlying revenue growth of 3%, down from 4% over the whole of last year, as total revenue increased by 6% to £3.9bn when compared to the first six months of 2018.
The company said revenue growth had been driven by electronic and face-to-face revenues and the further development of its analytics and decision tools, though this was partially offset by continued print revenue declines.
Eight new acquisitions of content, data analytics and exhibition assets were made during the period for £246m and were said to be performing well, while the company also disposed of five assets for £45m.
Relx's board declared an interim dividend of 13.6 pence a share, up from 12.4 pence a share a year earlier.
"The full year outlook is unchanged. As we enter the second half of 2019 key business trends for the full year are in line with the full year 2018," the company said. "We remain confident that, by continuing to execute on our strategy, we will deliver another year of underlying growth in revenue and in adjusted operating profit, together with growth in adjusted earnings per share on a constant currency basis in 2019."
Relx shares were down 4.56% at 1,849.50p at 0832 BST.