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RELX PLC REL

LondonInformation servicesFinancials to Jun 30, 2026 · Updated Nov 11, 2026

On Stock Analysis · affiliate link
REL financials
Moat score
81
ROIC
24.3%
P/E
20.1
EV/EBIT
17.3
FCF yield
5.1%
Dividend yield
2.7%
Market cap
£45.4B

Moat ranks

Score rankTied #134 of 396
Durabilitydurable
Market structureOligopoly
Pricing powerstrong

Balance sheet

6/30/26
£BDec 31Jun 30
Cash0.10.2
Securities0.00.0
Debt7.28.8
Net cash-7.0-8.6
Equity2.41.2
Leverage
Debt / EBITDA
2.27×
Debt / equity
7.10×
Leases (6/30/26)
£119M
Capital
Diluted shares
1,794M
Book value / share
£0.69
Price / book
36.7×
Net cash / share
−£4.78
Market cap
£45.4B
Enterprise value
£54.0B

Per-share record

Fiscal years and TTM
Scale
£0£2£4£6'16'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'245.20'255.42TTM
Revenue per shareCash flow per share

Key indicators

Latest: H1 '26
IndicatorLatestVs year agoLast 8 halves
Revenue growth2.7%+0.6 pts
Operating margin32.5%+1.1 pts
FCF margin24.0%-0.5 pts
Capex / revenue6.0%+0.6 pts
Risk underlying revenue growth+8%–
STM underlying revenue growth+6%–
Legal underlying revenue growth+10%–
Elsevier article submissions · 12/31/25≥4.2M–
Elsevier articles published · 12/31/25≥795,000–

Margins and growth from reported quarters; company KPIs as reported in results releases.

About REL

RELX sells data, research content and decision tools to insurers, banks, scientists, clinicians and legal professionals, alongside trade exhibitions and declining print products. Risk is its largest business.

Revenue mix
Risk 36.3%Scientific, Technical & Medical 28.3%Legal 18.8%Exhibitions 12.4%Print and print-related activities 4.2%
  • Data Network Effects

    Fraud/identity and insurance risk decisioning improve with large proprietary and contributory datasets; RELX describes industry-wide insurance data and broad risk datasets as core to timely benchmarking and analytics.

  • Data Workflow Lockin

    Products are designed to integrate into customer workflows and infrastructure (e.g., underwriting/claims, fraud prevention, AML screening), increasing switching costs and enabling expansion within accounts.

  • Content Rights Currency

    Ownership/control of a large portfolio of journals and authoritative reference content (distributed via owned platforms) underpins subscription and publishing revenues and strengthens bargaining position with institutions.

  • Data Workflow Lockin

    Research intelligence and database/tools (e.g., Scopus, SciVal, Pure) integrate into institutional research management and evaluation workflows, increasing switching costs and enabling cross-sell.

Timeline
  1. Sep 3, 2026

    RELX completed its Doctrine acquisition, adding a European legal AI platform used by 27,000 professionals across five countries and extending research, analysis and drafting tools.

  2. Aug 2026

    LexisNexis took three Nexis services offline after unusual activity at a third-party vendor. Service disruption exposes the trust and supplier-security risk in embedded professional workflows; confirmed data theft and financial costs were not disclosed.

  3. Jan 13, 2026

    The FTC issued its final GM and OnStar data-consent order, limiting a supplier’s sale of driver-behaviour data and showing how privacy rules can restrict insurance risk inputs.

  4. Dec 31, 2020 · Full year · One-off charge −£61M

    Pandemic event cancellations left unrecovered event costs.

  5. Dec 31, 2020 · Full year · Restructuring charge −£82M

    The pandemic caused a one-time programme to reduce Exhibition costs, mainly severance.

Ownership

CEO
Erik Engstrom
Since 2009 · 17 yrs
Professional CEOSingle share class

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Financial record

Fiscal year2016201720182019202020212022202320242025TTMTrendChange 2016–25
Per share (£)
Revenue3.313.613.764.033.673.744.434.815.035.205.42+5.1%/yr
Cash flow0.840.941.001.070.821.041.241.291.391.541.61+7.0%/yr
Earnings0.550.810.710.770.630.760.850.941.031.121.26+8.2%/yr
Free cash flow0.680.770.820.870.640.871.021.041.131.251.29+7.1%/yr
Capex0.160.170.180.190.190.170.230.250.260.280.31+6.6%/yr
Dividends0.330.370.400.430.450.470.510.560.600.640.67+7.7%/yr
Book value1.091.131.171.111.081.671.961.821.851.280.69+1.8%/yr
Diluted shares (M)2,0802,0351,9911,9561,9381,9391,9291,9031,8771,8441,794-1.3%/yr
Totals (£B)
Revenue6.97.37.57.97.17.28.69.29.49.69.7+3.7%/yr
Operating income1.71.92.02.11.51.92.32.72.93.03.1+6.6%/yr
Net income1.21.61.41.51.21.51.61.81.92.12.3+6.7%/yr
Free cash flow1.41.61.61.71.21.72.02.02.12.32.3+5.7%/yr
Buybacks0.70.70.70.60.20.00.50.81.01.52.3+8.8%/yr
Dividends0.70.80.80.80.90.91.01.11.11.21.2+6.3%/yr
Net cash-4.7-4.8-5.9-5.9-6.8-5.8-6.2-6.2-6.3-7.0-8.6−£2.4B
Margins & returns (%)
Gross margin63.964.264.765.065.064.664.464.965.066.366.4+2.4 pts
Operating margin24.826.026.226.721.426.027.229.330.331.632.1+6.8 pts
Net margin16.722.419.019.117.220.319.119.420.521.523.3+4.8 pts
FCF margin20.421.321.721.717.423.223.021.622.524.123.9+3.7 pts
ROIC18.820.718.319.813.215.917.821.222.324.624.3+5.8 pts
Return on equity50.771.961.169.558.345.543.351.555.687.3182.7+36.6 pts
Stock pay % of revenue0.60.50.50.40.40.60.50.60.70.70.7+0.1 pts
Capex % of revenue4.84.84.84.85.14.75.15.25.15.55.8+0.6 pts

Change uses 2016 and 2025 only: compound annual growth for amounts, points for margins and returns, and the change in amount for net cash. A dash means no 2016 base. Trend shows the fiscal years.

TTM = two half years to Jun 30, 2026. Per-share values use diluted weighted shares.ROIC = operating income × (1 − 23.6% tax rate, the company's own over three fiscal years excluding one-offs) ÷ (equity + debt − cash and current securities). Returns show a dash when their base is negative or under 10% of revenue. Free cash flow = operating cash flow − capex. Debt is all borrowings; net cash counts long-term securities and excludes leases.

Moat

Moat scorecard

Moat score81
Strength
Confidence
Structure
Oligopoly
Durability
durable
Trajectory
widening
Pricing power
strong
Segments
  • Risk36.3%
    2 claims
  • Scientific, Technical & Medical28.3%
    2 claims
  • Legal18.8%
    2 claims
  • Exhibitions12.4%
    No moat
  • Print and print-related activities4.2%
    No moat

Moat claims

Applies to
Risk
Confidence
Durability
durable
Trajectory
wideningas of Oct 8, 2026
Why it holds

Fraud/identity and insurance risk decisioning improve with large proprietary and contributory datasets; RELX describes industry-wide insurance data and broad risk datasets as core to timely benchmarking and analytics.

Why widening

The Digital Identity Network analysed more than 116bn transactions in 2025, up from more than 109bn in 2024, expanding shared fraud signals; model accuracy and retention are not disclosed.

Indicators
  • Risk underlying revenue growth+8%
  • Digital Identity Network transactions≥116.00B+6%
Risks
  • Data privacy/localisation rules reduce data availability or cross-border linkage
  • Data breach or model failures reduce trust and trigger churn
  • Large platforms/banks develop in-house decisioning stacks using cloud ML and first-party data

Profile change log

  1. Oct 8, 2026 · analyst revision

    Exhibitions and print have no verified protection across their full portfolios: fragmented event competition and electronic substitution support verified no-moat status. These segments now contribute zero to the revenue-weighted score instead of being excluded.

  2. Oct 8, 2026 · analyst revision

    FY2025 revenue weights replace H1 weights. Profit shares no longer treat central costs as print profit. Six claim trajectories, sourced debate, management and full-scope end markets now test the information and workflow advantages.

  3. Oct 8, 2026 · business change

    RELX completed its Doctrine acquisition, adding a European legal AI platform used by 27,000 professionals across five countries and extending research, analysis and drafting tools.

  4. Oct 8, 2026 · business change

    LexisNexis took three Nexis services offline after unusual activity at a third-party vendor. Service disruption exposes the trust and supplier-security risk in embedded professional workflows; confirmed data theft and financial costs were not disclosed.

  5. Oct 8, 2026 · business change

    The FTC issued its final GM and OnStar data-consent order, limiting a supplier’s sale of driver-behaviour data and showing how privacy rules can restrict insurance risk inputs.

Industry & peers

Peer map

0%10%20%30%40%50%60708090100Moat scoreIndustry medianRELTRUFICOMCOTRI

Hover a point for its values; click a peer to compare. Dashed lines: industry medians.

Global risk information and decision analytics

As of Oct 8, 2026
OligopolyMedium cyclicality

Data and analytical tools for fraud, identity, financial-crime compliance, insurance decisions, government programmes and specialised industry intelligence worldwide. Excludes insurance underwriting by the provider and consumer credit monitoring.

StocksMoatGross m.Op. m.
REL8166.4%32.1%
Industry median88066.4%24.2%
Sector median887637.3%18.0%
All stocks median3987653.1%20.0%

Moat medians cover every stock. Margin medians count only stocks with collected numbers and need at least three.

Drivers & risks

Demand drivers
  • Digital payments and remote onboarding create more identity checks and more opportunities for fraud.
  • Insurance shopping, underwriting and claims create recurring demand for contributory policy and loss records.
  • Financial-crime rules increase demand for entity screening, sanctions checks and verified ownership information.
  • AI can make linked identity and behavioural signals more useful, while integration places decisions inside customer workflows.
  • Interest rates and economic conditions change lending, insurance shopping and trade activity; mandatory compliance remains less cyclical.
Risks
  • Privacy, consent and data-localisation rules can remove inputs or prevent linking records across borders.
  • Cyber breaches, inaccurate consumer reports and biased decisions can cause penalties, customer claims and lost trust.
  • Verisk, credit bureaus, specialists and customer-built tools compete within different niches; no vendor leads every part of this broad market.
  • API standards and multi-sourcing can let large banks and insurers replace individual data feeds.
  • Currency movements change translated revenue for global vendors; a stronger pound reduces the GBP value of U.S. sales.

Bulls & bears

Key question · as of Nov 11, 2026

Can trusted data and content keep driving paid AI and workflow expansion faster than open alternatives, privacy limits and higher product-development costs erode it?

Arguments

3 forFaded: weakening or settled5 against

What to watch

  1. 1Risk underlying revenue and Digital Identity Network transactions
  2. 2Legal and STM underlying revenue, paid AI adoption and renewal outcomes
  3. 3Capitalised development spending, operating cash flow and net debt

Next check: Read FY2026 results when the company announces its date; separate Legal and Risk subscription growth from exhibition timing and monitor AI-product adoption versus pricing concessions.

Sources: company filings and dated sources collected for Find My Moat; market cap as of Oct 8, 2026. Not investment advice.

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Free to reuse, commercially too, with a credit link. See the data license.

Moat Score 81/100 by <a href="https://www.findmymoat.com/stocks/XLON:REL">Find My Moat</a> (as of September 2026)

Curation & Accuracy

This directory blends AI‑assisted discovery with human curation. Entries are reviewed, edited, and organized with the goal of expanding coverage and sharpening quality over time. Your feedback helps steer improvements (because no single human can capture everything all at once).

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