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RELX PLC

REL · London Stock Exchange

Market cap (USD)$55B
SectorIndustrials
IndustrySpecialty Business Services
CountryGB
Data as of
Moat score
97/ 100

Partial score covering 83% of segment weight.

Weighted average of segment moat scores, combining moat strength, durability, confidence, market structure, pricing power, and market share.

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Overview

RELX is a UK-listed information and analytics group with Risk, Scientific/Technical/Medical (Elsevier), Legal (LexisNexis Legal & Professional), Exhibitions (RX), and separately reported print-related activities. The moat is strongest in Risk and Legal, where proprietary datasets, authoritative content, AI-enabled tools, and workflow integration create recurring revenue and switching costs. STM combines content rights with ScienceDirect and research intelligence workflows, but faces open-access and procurement pressure. The April 2026 trading update confirmed positive momentum across the four active business areas. Exhibitions is more cyclical and the available disclosures do not establish a durable moat at segment level; print is a small declining legacy activity.

Primary segment

Risk

Market structure

Oligopoly

Market share

HHI:

Coverage

5 segments · 8 tags

Updated 2026-07-12

Segments

Risk

Risk analytics & decisioning platforms (fraud/identity, financial crime compliance, insurance underwriting/claims, industry data)

Revenue

36.3%

Structure

Oligopoly

Pricing

strong

Share

Peers

EXPN.LEFXTRUFICO+2

Scientific, Technical & Medical

Scientific & medical publishing, research platforms, and analytics (journals, databases/tools, research intelligence)

Revenue

28.3%

Structure

Oligopoly

Pricing

strong

Share

Peers

WLYINF.LCLVT

Legal

Legal information, research, drafting, and analytics platforms (law firm, corporate legal, government, news & business)

Revenue

18.8%

Structure

Oligopoly

Pricing

strong

Share

Peers

TRIWKL.AS

Exhibitions

B2B exhibitions and events (marketplace connecting buyers and sellers; increasingly supported by digital/data products)

Revenue

12.4%

Structure

Competitive

Pricing

moderate

Share

Peers

INF.LHYVE.L

Print and print-related activities

Legacy print and print-related distribution for professional information content

Revenue

4.2%

Structure

Competitive

Pricing

weak

Share

Peers

WLYTRIWKL.AS

Moat Claims

Risk

Risk analytics & decisioning platforms (fraud/identity, financial crime compliance, insurance underwriting/claims, industry data)

Revenue share computed from 2025 Form 20-F segment revenue (Risk GBP 3,485m; Group GBP 9,590m). Operating profit share computed from segment adjusted operating profit including print as a separate reported segment (Risk GBP 1,305m of GBP 3,350m). Source: https://www.relx.com/~/media/Files/R/RELX-Group/documents/reports/20f/relx-form-20f-2025.pdf

Oligopoly

Data Network Effects

Network

Strength

Strength 5 of 5

Durability

Durability 3 of 3

Confidence

Confidence 4 of 5

Evidence

Evidence 3 of 5

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 Network Effects moat: definition, examples, and stocks

Erosion 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

Leading indicators

  • Digital Identity Network transaction volumes (daily/annual)
  • Renewal/retention rates in Business Services and Insurance verticals
  • Regulatory actions affecting data sharing (privacy, AML/KYC)

Counterarguments

  • Other credit bureaus and risk vendors also have large datasets and model capabilities
  • Some customers can multi-source data and commoditise decisioning logic

Data Workflow Lockin

Demand

Strength

Strength 4 of 5

Durability

Durability 3 of 3

Confidence

Confidence 4 of 5

Evidence

Evidence 2 of 5

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.

Data Workflow Lockin moat: definition, examples, and stocks

Erosion risks

  • API standardisation makes vendor swaps easier
  • Procurement pressure forces unbundling of platforms into commodity data feeds
  • Model/feature parity reduces differentiation over time

Leading indicators

  • Net revenue retention / expansion within top accounts
  • Platform adoption metrics (e.g., platform modules per customer)
  • Implementation times and integration depth with core systems

Counterarguments

  • Some buyers prefer best-of-breed point solutions and integrate them via modern data stacks
  • Large insurers/banks can negotiate and switch vendors when contracts renew

Scientific, Technical & Medical

Scientific & medical publishing, research platforms, and analytics (journals, databases/tools, research intelligence)

Revenue share computed from 2025 Form 20-F segment revenue (STM GBP 2,714m; Group GBP 9,590m). Operating profit share computed from segment adjusted operating profit including print as a separate reported segment (STM GBP 1,035m of GBP 3,350m). Source: https://www.relx.com/~/media/Files/R/RELX-Group/documents/reports/20f/relx-form-20f-2025.pdf

Oligopoly

Content Rights Currency

Legal

Strength

Strength 5 of 5

Durability

Durability 2 of 3

Confidence

Confidence 4 of 5

Evidence

Evidence 2 of 5

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.

Content Rights Currency moat: definition, examples, and stocks

Erosion risks

  • Open access mandates and funding models compress publisher economics
  • Library consortia push back on pricing ('big deal' renegotiations/cancellations)
  • Preprints and alternative dissemination reduce reliance on traditional journals

Leading indicators

  • Renewal rates and pricing outcomes in large institutional contracts
  • Share of revenue from open access publishing vs subscriptions
  • Submission volumes and acceptance capacity/quality metrics

Counterarguments

  • Authors and institutions can shift to open platforms or alternative publishers over time
  • Publishing workflows are contestable; editorial boards can migrate journals

Data Workflow Lockin

Demand

Strength

Strength 4 of 5

Durability

Durability 3 of 3

Confidence

Confidence 4 of 5

Evidence

Evidence 2 of 5

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.

Data Workflow Lockin moat: definition, examples, and stocks

Erosion risks

  • Standards-based interoperability reduces integration advantage
  • Institutional preference for open bibliometrics/analytics alternatives
  • Data quality challenges or bias concerns reduce trust in analytics outputs

Leading indicators

  • Adoption and renewal of Scopus/SciVal/Pure contracts
  • Product usage/engagement (searches, API calls, seats)
  • Competitive displacement in research management systems

Counterarguments

  • Institutions can use alternative bibliographic datasets and open analytics
  • Multi-homing is common: customers may keep multiple databases/tools

Legal

Legal information, research, drafting, and analytics platforms (law firm, corporate legal, government, news & business)

Revenue share computed from 2025 Form 20-F segment revenue (Legal GBP 1,806m; Group GBP 9,590m). Operating profit share computed from segment adjusted operating profit including print as a separate reported segment (Legal GBP 415m of GBP 3,350m). Source: https://www.relx.com/~/media/Files/R/RELX-Group/documents/reports/20f/relx-form-20f-2025.pdf

Oligopoly

Content Rights Currency

Legal

Strength

Strength 5 of 5

Durability

Durability 3 of 3

Confidence

Confidence 4 of 5

Evidence

Evidence 2 of 5

Exclusive/authoritative primary and secondary legal content (case law, statutes, commentaries, citators) is the core input that differentiates answers and supports trust, especially for AI-assisted legal work where verifiable authority matters.

Content Rights Currency moat: definition, examples, and stocks

Erosion risks

  • Courts/governments improve free access and APIs for primary law
  • Litigation/regulation around AI outputs, privacy, or content licensing
  • Content parity narrows if competitors secure similar primary/secondary rights

Leading indicators

  • Content acquisition/renewal and exclusivity outcomes by jurisdiction
  • Quality metrics for AI answers (hallucination rate, citation accuracy)
  • Share of usage moving to non-proprietary sources

Counterarguments

  • Primary law is increasingly available for free; value shifts to workflow and analytics
  • Competing vendors also have deep content libraries and can integrate with AI tools

Data Workflow Lockin

Demand

Strength

Strength 4 of 5

Durability

Durability 3 of 3

Confidence

Confidence 4 of 5

Evidence

Evidence 3 of 5

Lexis+ and Lexis+AI are positioned as core online research/drafting platforms; integration into document management and firm workflows increases switching costs and enables upsell of analytics and AI assistants.

Data Workflow Lockin moat: definition, examples, and stocks

Erosion risks

  • Law firms adopt multi-platform AI copilots that abstract away the underlying research vendor
  • Interoperability standards make switching easier across document management and citation tools
  • New entrants bundle research + drafting at lower price points

Leading indicators

  • Lexis+AI and assistant (Protege) adoption rates by customer segment
  • Seat growth and module attachment (research, drafting, analytics)
  • Churn/renewal outcomes among top 100 law firms

Counterarguments

  • Large firms often subscribe to multiple research platforms (multi-homing)
  • Procurement leverage at large firms can cap price increases

Exhibitions

B2B exhibitions and events (marketplace connecting buyers and sellers; increasingly supported by digital/data products)

Revenue share computed from 2025 Form 20-F segment revenue (Exhibitions GBP 1,186m; Group GBP 9,590m). Operating profit share computed from segment adjusted operating profit including print as a separate reported segment (Exhibitions GBP 410m of GBP 3,350m). Source: https://www.relx.com/~/media/Files/R/RELX-Group/documents/reports/20f/relx-form-20f-2025.pdf

Competitive

Insufficient segment-specific evidence to assign a moat claim.

Print and print-related activities

Legacy print and print-related distribution for professional information content

Revenue share computed from 2025 Form 20-F segment revenue (Print and print-related activities GBP 399m; Group GBP 9,590m). Operating profit share computed from segment adjusted operating profit including print as a separate reported segment (GBP 185m of GBP 3,350m). Source: https://www.relx.com/~/media/Files/R/RELX-Group/documents/reports/20f/relx-form-20f-2025.pdf

Competitive

Insufficient segment-specific evidence to assign a moat claim.

Evidence

other

deep proprietary datasets and industry wide contributory and transactional databases

Supports scale-driven data advantages in insurance and risk analytics.

other

representing a majority of US auto and property insurance policies

Indicates breadth of contributory insurance data used in benchmarking products.

other

AI-enabled analytics and decision tools

Current trading update says Risk growth continues to be driven by embedded AI-enabled analytics and decision tools.

other

seamlessly integrated into an insurance company's workflow

Explicitly states strategy of embedding in customer workflows.

other

delivered through a single point of access within an insurer's infrastructure

Direct workflow-integration claim supporting lock-in.

Showing 5 of 14 sources.

Risks & Indicators

Erosion 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
  • API standardisation makes vendor swaps easier
  • Procurement pressure forces unbundling of platforms into commodity data feeds
  • Model/feature parity reduces differentiation over time

Leading indicators

  • Digital Identity Network transaction volumes (daily/annual)
  • Renewal/retention rates in Business Services and Insurance verticals
  • Regulatory actions affecting data sharing (privacy, AML/KYC)
  • Competitive win/loss rates in large financial services accounts
  • Net revenue retention / expansion within top accounts
  • Platform adoption metrics (e.g., platform modules per customer)

Keep the research going

Created 2025-12-30
Updated 2026-07-12

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