London, March 20, 2026, 16:15 (GMT)
RELX edged up roughly 0.4% to 2,522.5 pence on Friday, though still lagged behind the 2,565 pence mark set in this week’s overnight block sale of 24 million shares. Investors hadn’t fully digested the fresh supply, with shares showing some resistance.
That carries weight right now, with RELX pushing capital returns just as investors weigh their trust in data and legal-information outfits navigating a quickening AI cycle. Back in February, the company announced plans to allocate £2.25 billion for buybacks in 2026, following the £1.5 billion it wrapped up last year.
RELX disclosed Thursday it snapped up 481,561 shares on March 19, paying an average of 2,539.2527 pence apiece by volume-weighted price. That bumps its total buybacks since Jan. 2 up to 27.1 million shares. A buyback reduces the number of shares in circulation, which can lift earnings per share.
Brokers haven’t flinched, even as the market lags. Barclays’ Nick Dempsey stuck with his Buy call on March 17, holding his target firm at 3,075 pence. MarketScreener’s numbers put the 15-analyst average target at 37.14 pounds—nearly 48% over the latest close.
Rob Hales, senior equity analyst at Morningstar, struck a more upbeat tone on RELX after the February results, saying the numbers showed “not even a hint of weakness” and hiking his fair value estimate to 4,200 pence. Legal and scientific segments, he noted, continued picking up steam. Morningstar, Inc.
RELX’s leadership keeps pushing the same message. CEO Erik Engstrom pointed to an “improving long-term growth trajectory,” crediting the uptick to faster-growing analytics and decision tools. He also maintained that AI will keep fueling customer value and growth “for many years to come.” Relx
Speaking to Reuters, Chief Financial Officer Nick Luff pointed to RELX’s advantage: a steady flow of fresh content, hefty data sets, and proprietary algorithms designed to give professionals “the right judgments” and “the right interpretations.” That, he said, is the company’s central pitch to investors. Reuters
Competition hasn’t let up. Back in early February, Reuters noted shares of RELX, Wolters Kluwer, and Thomson Reuters slid after Anthropic rolled out legal AI tools. Hales, though, pushed back—insisting the new plug-in “had nothing to do with legal research,” which remains the core value engine for RELX’s legal arm. Reuters
Still, there’s no escaping the downside scenario. In its 2025 Form 20-F, RELX flagged a laundry list of risks: competition, evolving data-use regulations, changes to publishing models, even the threat of cyber attacks—all of which could squeeze demand or disrupt business. The underlying market anxiety: if AI tools start eating into prices or usage rates before RELX can properly integrate them into its offerings, buybacks might just end up softening the blow rather than solving the underlying problem.
Investors are eyeing several dates: RELX holds its AGM in London on April 23, the stock goes ex-dividend for a 48p final payout on May 7, and first-half numbers drop July 23.
