RELX 2020 Net Profit Falls as Pandemic Hits Exhibitions

   By Adria Calatayud 
 

RELX PLC said Thursday that net profit for 2020 fell as the coronavirus pandemic hurt its events segment, but that it expects growth in its largest segments in the year ahead.

The LexisNexis owner said it made a net profit for last year of 1.22 billion pounds ($1.69 billion) compared with GBP1.51 billion for 2019.

The FTSE 100 information-and-analytics group said adjusted operating profit--one of its preferred earnings metrics, which strips out exceptional and other one-off items--fell 17% to GBP2.08 billion, but was slightly ahead of analysts' expectations of GBP2.03 billion.

RELX, which also owns medical journal The Lancet and the London Book Fair, generated revenue of GBP7.11 billion, down 10% on year. Analysts had expected revenue of GBP7.19 billion, according to a consensus based on estimates by 16 analysts polled by FactSet.

On an underlying basis, revenue was down 9%.

RELX said the timing and pace of recovery in its exhibitions segment remains uncertain, but that it expects its three largest segments to deliver underlying revenue and adjusted operating profit growth in 2021.

The board raised its full-year dividend to 47 pence (65 cents) a share from 45.7 pence in 2019. The company said its board doesn't intend to resume its share-buyback program, which was paused in April due to the pandemic, this year.

Write to Adria Calatayud at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 11, 2021 02:39 ET (07:39 GMT)

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