RELX's growth accelerates in scientific and legal units

By Paul Sandle

LONDON, July 23 (Reuters) - Information and analytics group RELX reported accelerating growth in its scientific and legal divisions on Thursday, providing some relief to investors worried about the impact of AI companies like Anthropic on its business.

The British company reported underlying growth of 7% in the six months to end-June, while adjusted operating profit rose 9% as it improved its margin by 70 basis points.

The performance of its scientific, technical and medical division and its legal unit was notable, with the former up by a record 6% and the latter up by 10%.

RELX reiterated its forecast for another year of "strong underlying growth" in revenue and adjusted operating profit.

Chief Executive Officer Erik Engstrom said an improving growth trajectory was driven by the shift towards higher-growth analytics and decision tools, underpinned by AI.

Shares in RELX and its rivals like Wolters Kluwer and Thomson Reuters have been hit by concerns about the long-term impact of AI companies, such as Anthropic's push into the legal sector, on their business.

RELX's shares rose 2.6% after its results, which analysts at Citi said should be taken positively. But they are still trading 35% lower than they were a year ago.

Chief Financial Officer Nick Luff said RELX was applying generative AI capabilities to its trusted and curated data to help its customers in the legal, scientific, and financial services sectors.

He said hundreds of thousands of professionals were using the tools such as Lexis+ with Protege daily.

"We serve professional markets where trust really matters, where people care about getting the right answer that they can absolutely rely on," he said in an interview on Thursday.

"If you think of doctors, researchers, lawyers and banks, they are making high-value decisions where being roughly right is not good enough."

RELX reported revenue of £4.87 billion ($6.51 billion) and adjusted operating profit of £1.73 billion for the period. 

($1 = 0.7484 pounds)

(Reporting by Paul Sandle; Editing by Muvija M and Tomasz Janowski)