29 July 2021
Operating and financial review
Revenue £3,394m (£3,501m); constant currency growth +4%: The constant currency growth rate reflects good growth in electronic revenues (90% of the total), driven by further development of analytics and decision tools.
Adjusted operating profit £1,023m (£990m); constant currency growth +11%: Growth in adjusted operating profit exceeded growth in revenue, resulting in an improvement in adjusted operating margin to 30.1%.
Reported operating profit £860m (£747m): Reported operating profit includes amortisation of acquired intangible assets of £143m (£164m) and portfolio related costs of £16m (£26m).
Adjusted profit before tax £953m (£909m); constant currency growth +13%: Adjusted profit before tax benefited from lower adjusted net interest expense of £70m (£81m) with the reduction reflecting lower average net borrowings and lower average interest rates.
Reported profit before tax £825m (£666m): Reported profit before tax includes disposal net gains of £39m (£6m). Reported net interest expense was £74m (£87m).
Tax: The adjusted tax charge was £185m (£162m), including some non-recurring credits. The adjusted effective tax rate was 19.4% (17.8%). The reported tax charge was £164m (£124m).
Earnings per share: Adjusted EPS 40.0p (39.1p); Reported EPS 34.5p (28.4p).
Dividend: We are declaring an interim dividend of 14.3p (13.6p). Our long-term dividend policy is unchanged.
Net debt/EBITDA 2.8x (3.2x) including leases and pensions: The leverage ratio reduced compared to the end of 2020 as EBITDA increased in line with higher adjusted operating profit. Net debt, including leases, was £6.3bn (£7.5bn) at 30 June 2021. Excluding leases and pensions, net debt/EBITDA was 2.5x (2.8x). Adjusted cash flow conversion was 112% (101%).
Portfolio development: In the first half of 2021 we completed 5 small acquisitions for a total consideration of £46m, and disposed of a number of small assets for a total consideration of £5m.
More here: https://www.relx.com/media/press-releases/year-2021/interim-results-2021