London, April 23, 2026, 15:53 BST
RELX Plc reaffirmed its 2026 outlook on Thursday after saying the year had started well across all four divisions, and it unveiled a fresh £350 million buyback hours after shareholders renewed its repurchase authority at the annual meeting. The company said it was still seeing strong revenue growth, profit growth and new sales.
The statement lands at a sensitive moment for the sector. Reuters Breakingviews said February’s AI-driven selloff wiped about $9 billion from RELX’s market value in a day as investors worried that newer AI tools could move into legal and data workflows faster than incumbents could respond.
RELX tried to answer that head-on. It said growth in law firms and corporate legal remained in double digits, helped by its AI-driven Lexis+ with Protégé platform, while Morningstar analyst Rob Hales wrote that there were “no surprises” in Thursday’s update apart from some rescheduling in the Middle East exhibitions business. Relx
In Risk, RELX said momentum was still being driven by financial crime compliance, digital fraud and identity products, insurance solutions and strong new sales. It said it still expected underlying growth there, meaning growth stripped of acquisitions, disposals, print and some timing effects, with profit rising faster than revenue.
Scientific, Technical & Medical also kept improving, the company said, helped by higher-value databases and tools and very strong article submissions. Exhibitions carried the clearest near-term caveat: some Middle East events have been rescheduled, though RELX kept its forecast for strong revenue growth and a better margin this year.
The buyback added another marker. RELX said the new pre-set repurchase programme will run from April 23 to May 22, be managed independently by J.P. Morgan, and follow the completion of an earlier £350 million tranche on April 22. Both sit inside the £2.25 billion repurchase plan it laid out with February results.
Shareholders broadly backed the package. All 21 resolutions passed at Thursday’s AGM, including the final 48 pence dividend and the authority to buy back shares, which won 99.67% support, a filing showed.
RELX came into the update with a solid base. In February it reported 2025 revenue of £9.59 billion, underlying growth of 7%, adjusted operating profit of £3.34 billion and adjusted earnings per share growth of 10% on a constant-currency basis, which strips out exchange-rate swings. Chief Executive Erik Engstrom said then that AI had been driving customer value and growth “for well over a decade.” Relx
Peer Thomson Reuters is making much the same case. It said in February that its CoCounsel assistant had reached 1 million users, and Chief Executive Steve Hasker said “substance matters more than hype” as he argued that proprietary legal content still gives established providers an edge. Reuters
Still, RELX has not fully cleared the bar with investors. It now has to show that AI-led legal growth can translate into durable pricing power and that the exhibitions hiccup stays limited, while Reuters Breakingviews noted that UBS analysts saw most of RELX’s revenue as facing little disruption from newer AI models.
The next fuller test comes on July 23, when RELX is scheduled to report first-half results and investors will get a cleaner read on whether the strong start to 2026 is holding.
