London, June 22, 2026, 14:05 BST
- RELX slipped roughly 0.8% to around 2,359 pence, lagging the FTSE 100, which edged up about 0.5%.
- RELX PLC is set for an employee-plan listing of 75,000 shares, a move that makes up just 0.004% of its total shares.
- RELX trades with support around 2,348–2,350p. The company’s buyback plan for 2026 is set at about 5.4% of its present market cap.
RELX PLC (LSE:REL) dropped 0.8% to 2,359 pence by 14:01 BST on Monday, coming in behind the broader London market. Shares started the session at 2,383p, then traded as high as 2,396p before slipping to 2,350p. The FTSE 100 was up about 0.5% in afternoon action.
Banks, miners and energy names pulled the index up after a drop tied to Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s resignation, but RELX lagged and ended lower. The stock didn’t get any help from company news. The slip shows investors still wary about AI competition hitting RELX, even as the wider London market found buyers. That split stands out.
The sole corporate event on the calendar was RELX’s admission of 75,000 ordinary shares for its 2023 Sharesave Plan. That’s about 0.0043% of the around 1.76 billion total shares and is not enough to account for Monday’s move or to cause real dilution.
REL.L is now trading in a tight range. Monday’s low at 2,350p is just above last Thursday’s 2,348p close. The stock bounced back to around 2,377p on Friday. If it falls below 2,348p, that rebound is gone. Bulls need a push past Monday’s 2,396p high to show real buying interest.
RELX is stuck in a weak spot. At 2,359p, the stock trades 41.5% under its 52-week high at 4,030p and sits 18.5% over its recent 1,991p low. That means shares are just about 18% off the bottom for the year, putting only a small dent in the steep drop from last year’s peak.
Capital returns are giving RELX some lift. The group is buying back £200 million of its own shares through June 26, part of a £2.25 billion programme planned out to 2026. This year’s buybacks would be about 5.4% of RELX’s £41.9 billion market cap right now. The final impact on shares in the market will depend on what price RELX pays and how the bought shares are handled in treasury.
Operating numbers are looking firmer than the shares. RELX in April stuck to its forecast for strong growth on both underlying revenue and adjusted operating profit. “Underlying” excludes currency moves and deals. Legal revenue was up double-digits, pushed higher by Lexis+ with Protégé, the company’s AI legal research and workflow tool. Relx
RELX posted 7% underlying revenue growth and a 9% rise in adjusted operating profit for 2025, with adjusted EPS coming in at 128.5p. CEO Erik Engstrom said AI “will remain a key driver of customer value and growth in our business for many years to come.” Relx
RELX looks less expensive on closer earnings math than the headline multiple says. The shares trade at about 18.4 times 2025 adjusted earnings. For 2026, Goldman Sachs estimates 140.14p per share in earnings, putting the forward price-to-earnings ratio around 16.8. Goldman started coverage on RELX with a £30 price target and gave it an AI-resilience score of 9 out of 10, higher than Wolters Kluwer’s 6.8. Thomson Reuters is still another name analysts are watching to see if legacy legal data groups can hold up their prices against new AI players.
The risks are still on the table. AI tools might cut the pool of paying pro users, hit subscription prices, or pull value from RELX’s platforms, even if its core data keeps its appeal. There’s also risk from regulatory shifts, IP changes, currency moves, and net debt at 2.0 times EBITDA. A buyback won’t make up for a steady drop in revenue growth or margins.
RELX’s next half-year numbers hit on July 23. Investors want to see if Legal stays in double-digit growth, that AI products are getting picked up, and that group margins stay solid. Sellers are watching 2,348–2,350p as the key level before results, while any bounce faces resistance at 2,396p.
