RLXXF - RELX PLC (RELX) Q4 2023 Earnings Call Transcript
2024-02-15 16:00:27 ET
RELX PLC (RELX)
Q4 2023 Results Conference Call
February 15, 2024 3:30 AM ET
Company Participants
Erik Engstrom - CEO
Nicholas Luff - CFO
Conference Call Participants
George Webb - Morgan Stanley
Adam Berlin - UBS
Carl Murdock-Smith - Berenberg
Nick Dempsey - Barclays
Tom Singlehurst - Citi
Steve Liechti - Numis
Konrad Zomer - ABN AMRO ODDO
Sami Kassab - BNP
Presentation
Erik Engstrom
Good morning, everybody. Thank you for taking the time to join us today. As you may have seen from our press release this morning, we delivered strong financial results in 2023, and we make further operational and strategic progress.
Underlying revenue growth was 8%. Underlying adjusted operating profit growth was 13%. Adjusted earnings per share growth was 11% at constant currency, and we are proposing an 8% increase in the pound sterling full year dividend. All four business areas performed well in 2023. And on this chart, you can also see the relative sizes of the business segment within each business area.
In Risk, strong fundamentals continue to drive underlying revenue growth of 8% with underlying adjusted operating profit growth of 9%. In Business Services, which represents around 45% divisional revenue, growth continued to be driven by financial crime compliance and digital fraud and identity solutions, and we saw a strengthening in new sales in the second half. In Insurance, which represents just under 40% of divisional revenue, strong growth was driven by further expansion of solution sets across markets supported by positive market factors. Specialized industry data services, which represents just over 10% of divisional revenue, saw strong growth led by the Commodity Intelligence and Aviation segment. Going forward, we expect continued strong underlying revenue growth with underlying adjusted operating profit growth, slightly exceeding underlying revenue growth.
In STM, further development of analytics continues to drive the ongoing shift in business mix towards higher growth segments. Underlying revenue growth was 4% and underlying adjusted operating profit growth was also 4% with a slight increase in adjusted operating margin. In databases, tools and electronic reference and corporate primary research, which together represents around 45% of divisional revenue, strong growth was driven by further development of higher value-add analytics and decision tools. Primary Research, Academic and Government segments, which also represents around 45% of divisional revenue, continued to be driven by strong growth in article submissions with pay to publish open access articles growing particularly strong. Going forward, we expect continued good underlying revenue growth, with underlying adjusted operating profit growth slightly exceeding online revenue growth....
RELX PLC (RELX) Q4 2023 Earnings Call Transcript