RELX PLC (RELX): BCG Matrix [Dec-2025 Updated]

As you review RELX PLC's strategic map for late 2025, you see a portfolio expertly managed: the Legal and Risk divisions are clear Stars, fueled by AI growth hitting 9% and 8% respectively, while the Scientific, Technical & Medical unit acts as the reliable Cash Cow, providing 37% of 2024 operating profit. We're actively managing the structural decline of the print Dogs, but the real intrigue lies with the Exhibitions unit, a Question Mark showing 8% growth but still contributing only 12% to profit. Keep reading to see precisely where this capital is flowing and what this structure means for your investment thesis.

Background of RELX PLC (RELX)

You're looking at where RELX PLC stands as of late 2025, so let's set the scene with what the company is and what it's been doing. RELX PLC is a global provider of information-based analytics and decision tools, headquartered in London, UK. They serve professional and business customers in over 180 countries, focusing heavily on leveraging advanced technology, especially artificial intelligence, to deliver actionable insights across their core areas.

The company organizes its operations into four main segments: Risk, Scientific, Technical & Medical (STM), Legal, and Exhibitions. To give you a sense of scale from the prior year, the Risk division generated about 34.4% of 2024 net sales, while STM was close behind at 32%. The Legal segment accounted for 20% of sales, with Exhibitions making up the rest. Geographically, North America was defintely the biggest market, bringing in 58% of sales in 2024.

Looking at the most recent numbers we have-the results for the first nine months of 2025-RELX PLC reported an underlying revenue growth of 7% across the group. This performance is being driven by what the company calls an ongoing shift in its business mix towards higher growth analytics and decision tools. For instance, in the first half of 2025, the group saw underlying revenue hit £4,741 million, with adjusted operating profit growing 9% to £1,652 million.

Drilling down into the segments for the first nine months of 2025, we see varied but generally strong growth rates. The Legal segment led the pack with underlying revenue growth of 9%, largely thanks to the success of Lexis+ AI and the new Protégé AI assistant. The Risk division followed with 8% growth, fueled by Financial Crime Compliance and digital Fraud & Identity solutions. Exhibitions also posted a solid 8% growth rate.

The Scientific, Technical & Medical (STM) division showed good growth, though at a slightly slower pace, with underlying revenue up 5% for the nine-month period. Still, the CEO noted that momentum is developing here, supported by new product introductions, like their next-generation AI-powered researcher solution. Overall, RELX PLC reaffirmed its outlook for the full year, expecting continued strong underlying growth in revenue and adjusted operating profit, which tells you they feel confident about the trajectory of these AI-enhanced tools.

RELX PLC (RELX) - BCG Matrix: Stars

You're looking at the business units that are currently defining RELX PLC's high-growth trajectory. These are the areas where the company has successfully captured significant market share in markets that are still expanding rapidly. Honestly, these are the engines management needs to keep pouring resources into right now.

The concept of a Star in the Boston Consulting Group Matrix means high market share in a high-growth market. For RELX PLC, this positioning is clearly evident in two core segments, both heavily bolstered by the company's aggressive pivot toward artificial intelligence and advanced analytics.

Here's a quick look at the performance metrics that place these units in the Star quadrant based on the first nine months of 2025 results:

The Risk segment is showing strong underlying revenue growth at +8% for the first nine months of 2025. This momentum is directly tied to its deeply embedded artificial intelligence-enabled analytics and decision tools, particularly within Financial Crime Compliance solutions. This unit holds the number one position in its key verticals, which is exactly what you want to see from a Star.

The Legal segment is actually posting the highest growth rate among the core divisions, with underlying revenue up +9% in the same nine-month period of 2025. This success is fueled by the continued adoption of the Lexis+ AI platform. To be fair, the corporate legal and law firm segment, which represents around 70% of the division's revenue, is seeing double-digit growth because of these AI tools.

Maintaining these leadership spots requires significant, ongoing capital deployment. RELX PLC is ensuring continued high relative market share and growth by making high investments in proprietary data sets and advanced analytics capabilities. This is the cash burn required to keep a Star shining bright, so you'd expect to see heavy R&D and M&A spending here.

The strategic focus supporting these Stars includes:

• Investment in proprietary data sets to feed AI models.
• Development of advanced analytics to enhance decision tools.
• Ensuring continued high relative market share through product superiority.
• Driving growth rates that outpace the overall group underlying revenue growth of +7% for 9M 2025.

If RELX PLC sustains this success until the high-growth markets for AI-enabled compliance and legal tech mature and slow down, these units are positioned to transition into the Cash Cow quadrant, generating significant free cash flow without the same level of aggressive investment.

Finance: draft the projected capital allocation split between Risk and Legal for H2 2025 by next Tuesday.

RELX PLC (RELX) - BCG Matrix: Cash Cows

You're looking at the core engine of RELX PLC's financial stability, the segment that consistently spits out more cash than it needs to run. In the BCG framework, this is the Cash Cow: high market share in a mature space.

The Scientific, Technical & Medical (STM) division fits this mold perfectly. It holds a Global #1 market position, which translates directly into a stable, recurring revenue base that the entire group relies on. This is the segment that has achieved competitive advantage and now enjoys high margins with minimal need for aggressive promotional spending.

Here's a look at the 2024 profitability that underpins this status. The total Adjusted Operating Profit for RELX PLC was £3,199m in 2024. The STM segment contributed £1,172m to that total, which aligns closely with the stated 37% of the group's adjusted operating profit, demonstrating its high relative market share and profitability.

The market is mature, so growth isn't explosive, but it's solid and high-margin. For the first nine months of 2025 (9M 2025), the underlying revenue growth for STM was a solid +5%. This lower growth rate, compared to the group's overall underlying revenue growth of +7% in H1 2025, confirms its position in a mature market, meaning investments are focused on efficiency rather than aggressive market share capture.

This segment generates the significant free cash flow that allows RELX PLC to fund its ambitions elsewhere. You see this commitment to returning capital directly in the group's plans. RELX PLC intends to deploy a total of £1,500m on share buybacks for 2025. By H1 2025, £1,000m of that was already completed, with the remaining £425m planned for deployment before the end of the year. The STM cash engine is what makes those shareholder returns possible.

Cash Cows are the products you want to maintain, not necessarily grow aggressively. Investments here are strategic, aimed at efficiency improvements to further boost cash flow, rather than heavy marketing spend. Think of it as keeping the reliable tractor running perfectly.

The financial performance metrics for the STM segment in 2024 highlight its Cash Cow nature:

The focus for RELX PLC management regarding STM is clearly on maintaining productivity and 'milking' the gains passively, while using the resulting cash to support other areas of the portfolio. You can see the stability in the segment's growth profile:

• Global #1 market position, providing stability.
• Underlying revenue growth of +5% in 9M 2025.
• Profitability supports the £1.5 billion 2025 share buyback plan.
• Investments target efficiency to increase cash flow further.

The segment's role is to generate the surplus cash. For instance, the group's Adjusted Cash Flow Conversion was 97% in 2024, showing nearly all adjusted profit turns into cash, a hallmark of a strong Cash Cow.

RELX PLC (RELX) - BCG Matrix: Dogs

You're looking at the segment of RELX PLC that is clearly in a managed, structural decline-the print and print-related activities, which fall under the Dogs quadrant due to low growth (negative in this case) and low relative market share in a shrinking space. These are the legacy assets that the company is actively shedding or minimizing to focus capital elsewhere.

RELX is executing a clear strategy here: avoid expensive turnarounds and minimize cash consumption. This is evident in the H1 2025 results, where the company made a significant step to improve transparency and remove management distraction by separating these revenues. The print-to-electronic transition is now described as 'largely complete,' which confirms the low-growth, low-share status of the remaining print business.

The data shows the active reduction in exposure, which is the correct action for a Dog. The segment's contribution to the overall group performance is shrinking rapidly, both in revenue and profit contribution. This managed decline is precisely what you want to see when a business unit is a Dog; you want it to break even or generate minimal cash while you extract yourself, not consume capital for an unlikely revival.

Here are the concrete numbers reflecting this managed decline for the six months ended June 30, 2025:

The underlying performance of the core segments, like STM (excluding print) growing revenue at 5% and Legal at 9% in H1 2025, highlights the contrast with the print business. The fact that the overall Group Adjusted Operating Margin improved to 34.8% in H1 2025, despite the drag from print disposals and decline, is a strong indicator that the profit-reducing elements are being successfully managed out of the core calculation.

The strategic actions RELX PLC is taking regarding this quadrant include:

• Separating print revenues in H1 2025 to improve transparency.
• Proactively reducing involvement through out-sourcing and targeted asset disposals.
• Allowing the remaining print versions to exist only as a service for customers who still prefer that format.
• Focusing on profit retention rather than expensive growth initiatives for this unit.

The adjusted operating profit from print activities is defintely reducing, which is a good sign of managed decline, as the company prioritizes capital allocation to its Stars and Cash Cows, such as Risk and Legal analytics. Finance: draft 13-week cash view by Friday.

RELX PLC (RELX) - BCG Matrix: Question Marks

The Question Marks quadrant in the Boston Consulting Group Matrix represents business units operating in high-growth markets but currently holding a low relative market share. For RELX PLC, the Exhibitions (RX Global) segment fits this profile, showing significant top-line momentum but historically lower profit contribution compared to its peers.

This segment is characterized by high growth prospects but requires substantial cash investment to capture market share aggressively. Failure to invest sufficiently means these units risk declining into the Dogs category as market growth slows or competitors gain an edge.

The latest figures from RELX PLC confirm the high-growth nature of the Exhibitions segment:

• Exhibitions (RX Global) reported an underlying revenue growth of +8% in the first nine months of 2025, matching the growth rate seen in the Risk segment.
• The segment's underlying revenue growth for the first half of 2025 was also +8%, with underlying adjusted operating profit growth at +9% for the same period.

Despite this strong growth, the segment's relative size in terms of profitability suggests a lower market share position within the overall RELX portfolio, consistent with the Question Mark classification. Here is a snapshot of its recent financial standing:

You can see the profitability potential is high; the H1 2025 adjusted operating margin reached 40.3%. This margin improvement shows that the focus on value-enhancing digital initiatives and a better event portfolio profile is paying off, moving the segment toward Star status if market share can be secured.

The path forward for RELX PLC's Exhibitions segment hinges on strategic execution. Continued strong growth is dependent on two key factors:

• The successful navigation of global event cycling and timing effects.
• The sustained success and adoption of new digital initiatives for customers.

To convert this Question Mark into a Star, RELX must maintain investment to quickly scale its market presence, especially leveraging the digital tools that enhance the core face-to-face offering. The segment's 2024 adjusted operating profit contribution was only 12% of the group's total adjusted operating profit of £3,199 million, underscoring the need to rapidly increase its share of the high-growth market.