Contradictions Unveiled: RELX's 2025 Q2 Earnings Call Reveals Tensions in STM Decline and Exhibitions Growth

Print Decline in STM, Future STM Growth Expectations, Exhibitions Growth and Margin Expectations, Open Access Revenue Growth, and Exhibitions Growth Rate are the key contradictions discussed in RELX's latest 2025Q2 earnings call.



Financial Performance and Growth:
- RELX PLC reported a 7% underlying revenue growth and a 9% underlying adjusted operating profit growth for the first half of 2025.
- The growth was driven by a strong performance in the Risk, STM, and Legal segments and operational progress, including strategic shifts towards higher value-add analytics and decision tools.

Segment-Specific Growth:
- The Risk segment achieved 8% underlying revenue growth, with a 9% underlying adjusted operating profit growth, driven by the development and rollout of higher value-add, AI-enabled analytics and decision tools.
- The Legal segment's revenue growth improved to 9%, reflecting a continued shift towards higher growth, higher-value legal analytics and the successful launch of Lexis+ AI, leveraging generative AI capabilities.

Exhibitions Sector Performance:
- The Exhibitions segment showed 8% underlying revenue growth, with strong ongoing growth above pre-pandemic levels and a significant improvement in margins to 40.3%.
- This growth is attributed to a focus on value enhancement through digital tools and expanded event portfolios.

Print Segmentation and Strategic Focus:
- RELX reduced its exposure to print by a significant step in the first half of 2025, separating print and print-related revenues and focusing on customer service and profit retention.
- The strategic shift aims to remove management distractions and improve transparency, with a focus on higher growth analytics tools and decision support for customers.