RELX PLC stock heads into the 13 December 2025 weekend with investors weighing a familiar mix of “quietly powerful” fundamentals (subscription-heavy data and analytics) against loud market narratives (interest rates, AI disruption fears, and valuation). The company has also put fresh capital-return and share-structure headlines back on the tape in December—small in size individually, but meaningful in what they signal about management priorities. [1]
RELX share price today: where the stock stands on 13 December 2025
With UK markets closed Saturday, the latest London reference is Friday’s close: RELX ended 12 December at roughly 3,016p (about £30.16) with dealing quotes around 3,013p–3,015p on delayed pricing. [2]
For US-listed investors using the ADR (NYSE: RELX), third-party market data showed the ADR around $40.38 as of 13 December, reflecting the most recent trading session and a 52‑week range cited there of $39.31–$56.33. [3]
On a medium-term view, delayed-performance stats shown for the London listing put RELX up around 19% over one year and about 23% over six months (figures based on prior closes and not predictive). [4]
The newest RELX PLC stock news in December 2025
Two company-issued items matter most for “what changed recently” going into 13 December:
1) Additional listing tied to an employee Sharesave plan (12 December 2025)
RELX applied for a block listing of 60,000 ordinary shares connected to the RELX PLC Sharesave Plan 2023, with admission expected on 17 December 2025 and the new shares ranking alongside existing shares. This is typically administrative (employee plan mechanics), not a fundamental shift—yet it’s still a formal, current disclosure. [5]
2) Buyback wrap-up and a fresh buyback programme (5 December 2025)
RELX reported completion of its 2025 share buyback, stating it purchased 39.5 million shares for £1.5 billion during the year. It also announced a new irrevocable, non-discretionary buyback of up to £250 million planned for 2 January–6 February 2026, run by UBS AG London Branch and intended to reduce capital (shares bought expected to be held in treasury). [6]
The same 5 December disclosure also referenced cancelling 55 million treasury shares, and provided updated share counts in issue/treasury at that time—useful context for anyone tracking per‑share metrics. [7]
A related, earlier administrative update (1 December 2025) set out total voting rights and the split between issued shares and treasury shares as of 28 November—another “share count hygiene” datapoint that matters for ownership thresholds and per-share math. [8]
Analyst and broker takes: upgrades, targets and the current “AI debate”
RELX hasn’t been moving on surprise earnings this month—it’s been moving on positioning: rates, defensiveness, and whether AI is a tailwind or an existential threat to information businesses.
Deutsche Bank upgrade (early December)
Broker commentary circulating in UK market coverage showed Deutsche Bank upgrading RELX to “buy” around 9 December 2025, with reporting that highlighted the sector’s difficult 2025 backdrop and ongoing debate about generative AI disruption. [9]
Consensus targets skew higher than the current London price
A compiled sell-side snapshot on Investing.com (consensus based on the prior three months, per that page) characterized RELX as “Strong Buy”, showing 12 buys and an average 12‑month target around 4,433.85p, with a low estimate 3,700p and high estimate 5,300p—figures that imply sizable upside versus ~3,016p, while still being just that: forecasts. [10]
The same consensus view listed recent analyst activity (examples shown there include JPMorgan and Deutsche Bank entries with December action dates). [11]
The macro overlay: rate expectations and “quality defensives”
RELX often trades like a “quality compounder” in UK large caps—meaning it can benefit when investors want durable cash flows. Around mid-December, Reuters market coverage pointed to investors watching central-bank decisions and shifting rate expectations, a backdrop that commonly affects valuation multiples for steady-growth names. [12]
RELX fundamentals: why the stock keeps getting treated as a “compounder”
To understand why RELX regularly shows up in “defensive growth” conversations, it helps to look at how the business is built.
RELX describes itself as a global provider of information-based analytics and decision tools, serving customers in 180+ countries, with offices in about 40 countries and 36,000+ employees. [13]
Scale and profitability (company investor materials)
In its December 2025 investor presentation materials, RELX summarized 2024 at approximately £9.4bn revenue and £3.2bn adjusted operating profit, alongside EBITDA margin ~39.5%, adjusted operating margin ~33.9%, and cash flow conversion ~97% (company definitions apply). [14]
A separate market-data summary of 2024 fundamentals also listed revenue at £9,434m, profit before tax at £2,557m, and adjusted EPS at 120.10p (noting that third‑party “fundamental tables” can differ in definitions from company “adjusted” measures). [15]
A business mix that’s mostly digital and recurring
RELX’s investor materials break down revenue characteristics in a way equity analysts love because it hints at stability: for H1 2025, the company showed revenue heavily weighted to electronic (~84%) and subscription (~54%), with geography skewed to North America (~60%). [16]
That mix helps explain why RELX can sometimes hold up when cyclical names wobble: subscriptions + embedded workflows tend to be sticky, and North America is a large profit pool for data/analytics firms.
Growth engine check: what RELX said about 2025 trading and AI products
RELX’s latest formal trading commentary before this December window came in late October—and it matters because it frames what investors are “allowed” to expect until the next results.
October 2025 trading update: strong YTD growth and outlook reaffirmed
RELX reported underlying revenue growth of +7% year-to-date for the first nine months of 2025 and reaffirmed its expectation for another year of strong underlying growth in revenue and adjusted operating profit, plus strong adjusted EPS growth at constant currency. [17]
Segment growth rates in that update were also robust: Risk +8%, Scientific, Technical & Medical +5%, Legal +9%, Exhibitions +8% (all described as underlying and at constant currency per the company’s methodology). [18]
Reuters on the AI angle: demand from lawyers and scientists
On the half-year results earlier in 2025, Reuters reported RELX said demand for generative AI tools helped boost first-half performance, with adjusted operating profit up 9% and revenue up 7% to £4.74bn. Reuters also noted management highlighting products such as a Lexis+ AI Protégé offering for legal workflows and ScienceDirect AI for researchers. [19]
This is the “RELX bull case” in one sentence: it sells specialized content + data + workflow tools where AI can increase value (and pricing power) rather than simply replacing the product.
RELX stock forecast: what the numbers and models are implying into 2026
Forecasts come in layers—some are sell-side targets, some are model-based growth projections, and some are “technicals.” They don’t always agree, which is normal in markets (messy reality is the default setting).
Consensus price targets (sell-side aggregation)
As noted above, one widely cited consensus snapshot put RELX’s average target ~4,434p with a 3,700p–5,300p range and “Strong Buy” sentiment in the prior three months of ratings collected there. [20]
Model-based growth outlook (longer-horizon expectations)
A separate equity-research style summary (Simply Wall St) estimated RELX could grow earnings ~10% per year and revenue ~6.1% per year, with EPS growth around 10.9% per year (as of a 12 December update on that page). Treat this as an aggregated model view, not company guidance. [21]
Technical read (short-term, sentiment-heavy)
For the ADR, Investing.com’s technical-indicator summary described the daily signal as “Strong Sell” at the time of capture—useful as a snapshot of momentum, but not a substitute for fundamentals or risk management. [22]
Dividends and buybacks: what income and capital-return investors are watching
RELX is not typically bought as a high-yield stock; it’s bought as a cash-generating compounder that returns capital steadily.
On the dividend front, one market-data listing shows recent payouts including an interim dividend of 19.50p (paid 11 Sept 2025) and a final dividend of 44.80p (paid 19 June 2025). [23]
On buybacks, December’s disclosures matter because they put real numbers on management’s capital-return cadence:
- £1.5bn repurchased in 2025 (39.5m shares), completed. [24]
- A further up to £250m buyback planned for 2 Jan–6 Feb 2026, ahead of results on 12 Feb 2026 (per the company announcement). [25]
RELX investor materials also frame buybacks as part of a broader “uses of cash” priority set, alongside investment, acquisitions, dividends and leverage discipline. [26]
Risks and the “bear case” investors keep raising
No stock gets to be large, widely owned, and expensive-ish without attracting recurring skeptical arguments. The main ones around RELX into late 2025 look like this:
- AI disruption risk (the ironic one): If generative AI changes how professionals search, summarize, or draft, information platforms must stay ahead—or risk being “unbundled.” Broker commentary in December explicitly referenced generative AI fears in the UK media/information sector debate. [27]
- Valuation risk: Third-party data tables put RELX on a P/E around 30 (depending on the earnings definition used), which means execution has to stay strong to justify the multiple. [28]
- Regulatory/data privacy exposure: RELX itself flags regulatory and other changes around personal data and other risk factors in forward-looking statement language within investor materials—worth noting given the company’s data-rich businesses. [29]
- Exhibitions cyclicality: While the group is increasingly digital, it still runs a sizable global events business (RX). Slowdowns or shocks can affect that segment more than the subscription-heavy divisions. [30]
What to watch next for RELX stock: the near-term calendar
If you’re tracking RELX into early 2026, the next “known knowns” are straightforward:
- 17 December 2025: expected admission for the 60,000-share block listing tied to the Sharesave Plan 2023. [31]
- 2 January–6 February 2026: the planned up to £250m non-discretionary buyback window. [32]
- 12 February 2026: next results date referenced in multiple market summaries and the company’s buyback announcement. [33]
Bottom line for 13 December 2025
RELX PLC stock closes this week with the core narrative intact: strong underlying growth (per the latest trading update), heavy exposure to recurring digital revenue, and ongoing capital returns via buybacks—now with a clearly telegraphed additional programme running into early 2026. [34]
The market’s question is less “is RELX a good business?” and more “how much should investors pay for a good business when AI is both the engine and the anxiety?” The answer, as usual, will likely be argued one earnings call at a time. [35]
References
1. www.investegate.co.uk, 2. www.hl.co.uk, 3. www.investing.com, 4. www.hl.co.uk, 5. www.investegate.co.uk, 6. www.investegate.co.uk, 7. www.investegate.co.uk, 8. www.investegate.co.uk, 9. www.sharesmagazine.co.uk, 10. www.investing.com, 11. www.investing.com, 12. www.reuters.com, 13. www.relx.com, 14. www.relx.com, 15. www.hl.co.uk, 16. www.relx.com, 17. www.relx.com, 18. www.relx.com, 19. www.reuters.com, 20. www.investing.com, 21. simplywall.st, 22. www.investing.com, 23. www.hl.co.uk, 24. www.investegate.co.uk, 25. www.investegate.co.uk, 26. www.relx.com, 27. www.sharecast.com, 28. www.hl.co.uk, 29. www.relx.com, 30. www.relx.com, 31. www.investegate.co.uk, 32. www.investegate.co.uk, 33. www.investegate.co.uk, 34. www.relx.com, 35. www.reuters.com
