London, March 25, 2026, 13:01 GMT
RELX slipped about 1% to 2,407 pence by 1253 GMT, underperforming London’s broader market despite the group’s new £350 million buyback announced this week. Shares remained below the 2,565 pence price from last week’s sizable offering.
It’s an issue for RELX, which is still picking up the pieces after a wave of AI-fueled selling slammed legal and information stocks. Back in early February, Anthropic’s launch of a legal AI tool rattled RELX alongside Wolters Kluwer and Thomson Reuters, intensifying questions about just how resilient their subscription models and research processes are as generative AI gains traction.
The latest buyback kicks off Monday and continues until April 22, with J.P. Morgan Securities handling the execution. This phase follows a £450 million round wrapped up on March 20, and is part of a broader £2.25 billion buyback programme set to run through 2026, according to company filings.
RELX’s operating performance hasn’t wavered, even if the stock has moved around. Back in February, the company posted 2025 revenue of £9.59 billion and adjusted operating profit came in at £3.342 billion. Underlying growth landed at 7% for revenue, and 9% for profit. For 2026, RELX flagged another year of strong underlying growth.
Legal, a business right in the thick of the AI discussion, booked 9% underlying revenue growth for 2025, with adjusted operating profit up 12%. RELX credited the take-up of Lexis+ AI and its built-in legal assistant, Protégé, for the gains.
Back in February, Chief Financial Officer Nick Luff told Reuters that RELX relies on constantly refreshed content and its own algorithms to stay ahead, aiming to deliver “the right judgments” for professionals making complex, high-stakes calls. The company expects that AI-powered offerings will keep fueling growth for years. Reuters
The FTSE 100 climbed roughly 1%, lifted by optimism over a possible Middle East ceasefire and February’s UK consumer inflation steady at 3.0%. RELX, though, didn’t join the rally.
Plain supply remains a factor. Goldman Sachs flagged last week that an institutional seller was moving out 24 million RELX shares, with the bookrunner setting the price at 2,565 pence.
The buyback move might give sentiment a nudge, but it leaves the main risk unresolved. There’s still an argument among investors over just how much generative AI could chip away at pricing power for legal and analytics offerings, and RELX is still trading well under its 4,183 pence high for the year.
RELX wrapped up £1.5 billion in buybacks during 2025, then tacked on another £250 million by February 11, 2026, according to its annual results. So, in the near term, capital returns seem to be pulling most of the weight, with investors still looking for more tangible evidence that AI can push up the valuation again.
