LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - Information and analytics company Relx Group reported continued underlying revenue growth in the first nine months of 2018 on Thursday, reaffirming its outlook for the full year.
The FTSE 100 company said underlying revenue growth was 4% in the first nine months, as it acquired seven assets for a total consideration of £943m, and disposed of four assets for £28m.

It completed £650m of its previously-announced £700m share buyback, with the remainder to be deployed by year-end.

The firm also completed a simplification of its corporate structure into a single parent company, effective 8 September.

"The full year outlook is unchanged," the Relx board said.

"We are confident that we will deliver another year of underlying growth in revenue and in adjusted operating profit, together with growth in adjusted earnings per share on a constant currency basis."

In its scientific, technical and medical segment, underlying revenue growth was 2%, with the board claiming that its key business trends remained positive.

Overall, electronic revenues saw continued good growth, though that was partially offset by print declines.

In primary research, and databases and tools, the company continued to enhance the functionality and increase the sophistication of its analytics.

Print book sales, which were stable in the first half, returned to historical rates of decline during the main third quarter selling season.

Revenue trends for the remainder of the division were consistent with the first half, it reported.

"We continue to expect modest underlying revenue growth."

In risk and business analytics, underlying revenue growth was "strong" at 8%, with insurance continuing to drive growth through enhanced analytics, the extension of datasets, and by further expansion in adjacent verticals.

For business services, further development of analytics across the financial and corporate sectors continued to drive growth.

Data services drove growth through organic development and expansion across adjacent markets, the board said.

"Integration of recent acquisitions is progressing well.

"We expect underlying revenue growth trends to continue."

Over in the legal division, underlying revenue growth was 2%, with Relx saying the market environment for legal services, and for legal information providers, remained stable.

Electronic revenues saw continued growth, partially offset by print declines.

The roll-out of new platform releases across the company's US and international markets continued, with broader datasets and the continued expansion of early-stage legal analytics.

"Trends in our major customer markets are unchanged, continuing to limit the scope for underlying revenue growth."

Finally, in exhibitions, Relx saw underlying revenue growth of 6%, with growth described as "good" in Europe and "strong" in Japan and China.

The US continued to see differentiated growth rates by industry sector, the board said.

"Most other markets continued to grow well.

"We expect underlying revenue growth trends to continue, with cycling-in effects to increase the reported revenue growth rate by four to five percentage points."

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