How does RELX make money in 2026? This business model analysis examines the firm’s four core market segments, print activities and financial results. The financial analysis uses the company’s audited 2025 annual report.
Overview: The RELX Business Model
RELX and the decision-tools model
RELX provides information-based analytics and decision tools to professional and business customers in more than 180 countries and territories. Its services support decisions involving risk, scientific research, healthcare, law and commercial relationships. The firm is not simply a publisher selling individual documents. It combines proprietary and licensed content, data, algorithms, workflow software and professional expertise to help customers make decisions more effectively. Customers pay for access, usage, services and events depending on the product. Because the tools are embedded in recurring professional activities, the economics can differ significantly from a traditional print publishing business. The key commercial test is whether customers receive measurable value that supports renewal, usage and pricing.
Customer retention and embedded workflows
RELX’s products often sit inside recurring professional workflows. A compliance analyst may consult risk data daily, a researcher may use scientific tools throughout a project, and a lawyer may depend on legal research across matters. This can support customer retention because switching requires evaluating alternatives, retraining employees and integrating new systems. Yet retention is not guaranteed. Customers may negotiate prices, consolidate subscriptions or adopt competitors. The value of workflow integration must be demonstrated through accuracy, efficiency and reliability. RELX’s long-term strategy is to move beyond supplying information toward tools that help users act on information.
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How Risk Generates Revenue
Risk: financial crime, insurance and government
The Risk segment reported £3,485 million of revenue and £1,305 million of adjusted operating profit in 2025. It helps customers assess identities, prevent fraud, comply with financial-crime obligations, evaluate insurance risks and use specialist industry or government data. Solutions may combine multiple datasets and analytical models. The value proposition is better risk selection, compliance and operational efficiency. Its underlying revenue growth was 8%, stronger than the group’s 7% underlying rate. The segment benefits from increasing complexity of fraud and regulatory requirements, but must maintain accuracy, data rights, security and fairness. Customers can change suppliers if products produce false positives, weak predictions or insufficient economic value.
Financial crime and identity decisioning
Fraud and identity risks are growing more complex as financial services become digital. Risk customers may need to authenticate identities, screen transactions, evaluate suspicious activity and meet regulatory requirements. RELX can combine datasets and analytics to improve decision quality and reduce manual work. However, false positives can delay legitimate customers and poor model performance can expose institutions to losses or compliance problems. The company must continually update data and models as fraud patterns change. Product value is measured through reliable detection, operational efficiency and defensible decisions, not simply the quantity of data processed.
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Scientific, Technical and Medical Information
Scientific, Technical and Medical
The Scientific, Technical and Medical segment reported £2,714 million of revenue and £1,035 million of adjusted operating profit in 2025. It provides research information, journals, databases, analytics and tools for scientists, clinicians, institutions and other professional users. RELX’s Elsevier activities help researchers find, evaluate and communicate evidence, while analytics and clinical information products support decisions. Revenue models vary across content access, publishing services and software. The segment’s underlying revenue growth was 5%. Its long-term position depends on the credibility and usefulness of its content, relationships with research institutions, innovation and the ability to adapt to changing publication and open-access practices.
Scientific integrity and content economics
Scientific and medical products depend on accurate content, editorial standards and trusted relationships with authors, institutions and healthcare users. Changes in open-access publishing, research funding and institutional budgets can influence business models. Subscription revenue, publication services and analytics do not have identical economics. RELX must balance access, research integrity and commercial sustainability. The company’s scale in research content can be an advantage for discovery tools, but it also attracts scrutiny over pricing and competition. Long-term demand depends on the quality of evidence and usefulness of the tools rather than the mere volume of publications.
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Legal Research and Analytics
Legal research and workflow products
The Legal segment generated £1,806 million of revenue and £415 million of adjusted operating profit in 2025. LexisNexis legal and related products combine legal, regulatory and business information with search, analytics and workflow capabilities. Legal professionals value accurate, current, verifiable content because errors can have serious consequences. The segment achieved 9% underlying revenue growth, supported by adoption of AI-enabled research and analytics products. RELX’s strategy is to integrate advanced technology with verified legal content and professional workflows. The opportunity is higher customer productivity, but AI-generated inaccuracies, competitive tools and data governance can undermine trust if not controlled.
Data assets and AI capabilities
The firm combines content, datasets, analytics and advanced technologies to build products that support professional decisions. AI can improve search, summarisation, risk modelling and workflow assistance. But general-purpose AI also makes some basic information tasks cheaper, creating competitive pressure. RELX’s differentiation depends on reliable proprietary or licensed data, domain-specific evaluation, verified sources and integration into regulated workflows. The legal business’s Lexis+ AI and Protégé products illustrate the move toward AI-enabled professional tools. Management must ensure that models do not invent authorities, expose sensitive information or make decisions without appropriate human oversight.
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Exhibitions and Print Activities
Exhibitions and professional marketplaces
Exhibitions produced £1,186 million of revenue and £410 million of adjusted operating profit in 2025. It organises business-to-business events that help customers connect, discover suppliers, generate leads and transact. Revenue comes from exhibitors, visitors and related services, rather than the same subscription model used by many analytics tools. Reported revenue declined 4% from 2024, while underlying growth was 8% after adjusting for factors including event cycling and disposals. This distinction is crucial: calendar timing and portfolio changes can make annual reported growth differ from underlying demand. Event profitability depends on attendance, exhibitor value, venue costs, event mix and execution.
Print and print-related activities
RELX separately reported £399 million of print and print-related revenue and £185 million of adjusted operating profit in 2025. Revenue declined from £517 million in 2024. The category is distinct from the four primary market segments and helps investors understand the shift away from traditional print products. Declining print revenue does not necessarily imply deterioration in the higher-growth digital decision-tool businesses. However, the group must manage legacy customer needs, distribution economics and migration to digital offerings. Comparing the business mix over time requires using restated historical figures where the reporting structure has changed.
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How RELX Makes Money and Its Financials
Revenue reconciliation and growth measures
RELX reported consolidated 2025 revenue of £9,590 million, compared with £9,434 million in 2024, an increase of approximately 2% at actual exchange rates. The reported total reconciles to Risk £3,485 million, Scientific, Technical and Medical £2,714 million, Legal £1,806 million, Exhibitions £1,186 million and print-related £399 million. Underlying revenue growth was 7%, a distinct measure calculated at constant currency and excluding specified portfolio and cycling effects. Reported and underlying rates answer different questions. Reported growth reflects the actual accounting period; underlying growth helps assess the performance of comparable ongoing operations. Neither should be presented as interchangeable.
Adjusted versus reported profitability
Adjusted operating profit was £3,342 million in 2025, up from £3,199 million, and adjusted operating margin was 34.8%, compared with 33.9%. Reported operating profit was £3,027 million, compared with £2,861 million. Adjusted results exclude specified items, principally acquired-intangible amortisation and certain acquisition or disposal effects. Investors should examine both measures. Adjusted profitability can illuminate operating trends, while reported profit reflects recognised accounting expenses. The 2025 reported profit before tax was £2,750 million, and reported net profit attributable to shareholders was £2,065 million. These figures should not be mixed with adjusted margins without explaining the basis.
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Future Outlook, Cash Flow and Risks
Acquisitions and portfolio management
RELX completed five acquisitions for total consideration of £270 million in 2025. Acquisitions can add datasets, specialised technology, customer relationships and expertise, but integration carries financial and operational risks. The group must decide whether to build capabilities internally or buy them, considering cost, speed and strategic fit. Portfolio changes also affect reported growth comparisons. An acquisition can increase revenue without proving that the existing business is accelerating. Organic and underlying performance measures therefore help distinguish operational momentum from changes in ownership. Acquired capabilities should ultimately strengthen customer outcomes and returns on invested capital.
Cash flow, dividends and buybacks
RELX reported adjusted cash flow of £3,301 million in 2025, with 99% adjusted cash flow conversion, and a proposed full-year dividend of 67.5 pence per share. It completed a £1,500 million share buyback during the year. These figures indicate significant cash-generation capacity and capital distributions, but they should be evaluated alongside investment, debt and acquisition commitments. Net debt was £7,201 million and net debt to EBITDA was 2.0 times. Management needs to fund technology and content development while maintaining financial flexibility. Shareholder distributions are not a substitute for continued product relevance.
Global exposure and regulation
RELX serves customers across many jurisdictions and faces rules governing data protection, intellectual property, competition, publishing, professional services and events. Products involving identity or risk decisions can be sensitive because they affect access to financial services and other opportunities. Scientific and legal information must remain accurate and properly licensed. Exhibitions depend on local safety and event requirements. Global reach diversifies customer demand but adds compliance complexity and currency translation exposure. Trust and responsible data handling are critical to the business model because clients use RELX tools for consequential professional decisions.
2026 outlook and monitoring
The 2025 annual report provides the baseline for evaluating RELX in 2026. Important indicators include underlying growth by segment, reported revenue, adjusted and reported operating profit, cash conversion, customer retention and progress in AI-enabled decision tools. Risk and Legal reported 8% and 9% underlying growth respectively in 2025, while Scientific, Technical and Medical grew 5% and Exhibitions 8%. These rates are historical, not guarantees. Management should balance innovation and productivity with content integrity, cybersecurity and responsible data use. The central strategic question is whether RELX continues to increase customer value as AI changes how professional information is created, discovered and applied.
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Why Subscription Economics Matter
Many professional information tools are purchased because they support repeated decisions rather than one-off reading. A legal research platform may be consulted throughout the working day, and a compliance solution may be integrated into customer onboarding. This repeated use can support recurring revenue and renewal, but it also creates high expectations for availability, data quality and customer support. Subscription revenue should not be assumed to be risk-free. Procurement teams can consolidate vendors, reduce licences or renegotiate contracts. RELX needs to increase the practical value delivered to users through richer analytics and workflow features. The economics improve when customer value rises faster than the cost of acquiring, processing and delivering information.
How AI Changes the Business Model
Generative AI makes it easier to produce summaries and search across public information, potentially reducing the value of generic content access. RELX’s response is to embed AI in professional tools built on trusted and specialised data. The difference matters in regulated workflows: a plausible answer is insufficient if it cannot be verified or traced to a reliable source. Risk products require accurate identity and fraud signals, legal products require valid authorities, and medical information must reflect evidence. AI can also improve internal productivity, but training, inference, evaluation and cybersecurity create costs. The firm must ensure that incremental product value supports pricing and retention, rather than simply adding features customers can obtain elsewhere.
Reading Segment Margins Correctly
Adjusted operating profit divided by revenue provides an indicative segment margin, but adjusted profit excludes specified accounting items and cannot be treated as statutory profit. In 2025 Risk earned £1,305 million of adjusted operating profit on £3,485 million of revenue; Scientific, Technical and Medical earned £1,035 million on £2,714 million; Legal earned £415 million on £1,806 million; and Exhibitions earned £410 million on £1,186 million. These differences reflect distinct cost structures, product mixes and customer economics. The group also reports print-related activities and central costs. Investors should reconcile all segments to the consolidated £3,342 million adjusted operating profit before comparing returns or drawing conclusions about capital allocation.
How RELX Can Sustain Returns
Long-term returns depend on preserving data rights, maintaining editorial and analytical quality, and keeping products relevant as technology changes. Risk and Legal can expand through deeper integration into customer decisions, while scientific products need to adapt to changing research practices. Exhibitions must continue proving the value of in-person connections. RELX reported 15.4% adjusted return on invested capital in 2025, compared with 14.8% in 2024. This metric offers an additional perspective on investment efficiency, but should be read alongside reported profits, debt and cash flow. Sustainable growth requires that innovation, acquisitions and buybacks are evaluated against their opportunity costs.
How Customers Decide Whether to Renew
RELX’s commercial proposition depends on continued usefulness in professional workflows. A risk team may assess whether identity tools reduce fraud and false positives; a legal department may measure research time, accuracy and confidence in sources; a research institution may consider access, discovery and budget constraints. The decision to renew is therefore based on more than the number of documents available. Pricing power is stronger when customers can demonstrate improvements in productivity, risk outcomes or professional quality. Conversely, if an alternative tool delivers similar results at a lower cost, customers may reconsider their subscriptions. The company must invest in user experience, data quality, integration and customer support to maintain relevance. It should also explain new functionality clearly so that clients understand the difference between basic information access and higher-value analytics.
Economic Value of Product Development
Building new decision tools requires investment in engineers, domain experts, data acquisition, security and ongoing product maintenance. RELX can potentially spread some of these costs across a large customer base, creating operating leverage as products scale. However, additional AI features may introduce recurring computing costs and more demanding quality assurance. The financial objective is not simply to release more products, but to generate incremental revenue and retention benefits that exceed their lifetime costs. In 2025 the group’s adjusted operating margin was 34.8%, compared with 33.9% in 2024. This provides evidence of improving adjusted profitability, though reported operating profit and cash flow must also be reviewed. Product development should be evaluated over several years because customer adoption and integration can take time.
Why a Balanced Segment Mix Matters
Risk, Scientific, Technical and Medical, Legal and Exhibitions serve distinct needs. Strong growth in one market can offset slower conditions elsewhere, but each requires specialised expertise. RELX’s decision to report print separately improves visibility into legacy activities. The company should not maximise short-term segment margins at the expense of content integrity or client trust. Long-term value comes from maintaining strong positions in markets where its information and tools materially improve decisions.
Source: RELX Annual Report 2025.