RELX plc (pronounced "Rel-ex") is a British[3] multinational information and analytics company headquartered in London, England. Its businesses provide scientific, technical and medical information and analytics; legal information and analytics; decision-making tools; and organise exhibitions. It operates in 40 countries and serves customers in over 180 nations.[4] It was previously known as Reed Elsevier, and came into being in 1993 as a result of the merger of Reed International, a British trade book and magazine publisher, and Elsevier, a Netherlands-based scientific publisher.
The company is publicly listed, with shares traded on the London Stock Exchange, Amsterdam Stock Exchange and New York Stock Exchange. The company is one of the constituents of the FTSE 100 Index, AEX Index, Financial Times Global 500 and Euronext 100 Index.
History
The company, which was previously known as Reed Elsevier, came into being in 1993, as a result of the merger of Reed International, a British trade book and magazine publisher, and Elsevier, a Netherlands-based scientific publisher.[5] The company re-branded itself as RELX in February 2015.[6]
Reed International
In 1895, Albert E. Reed established a newsprint manufacturing operation at Tovil Mill near Maidstone, Kent.[7] The Reed family were Methodists and encouraged good working conditions for their staff in the then-dangerous print trade.[8]
In 1965, Reed Group, as it was then known, became a conglomerate, creating its Decorative Products Division with the purchase of Crown Paints, Polycell and Sanderson's wallpaper and DIY decorating interests.[9]
In 1970, Reed Group merged with the International Publishing Corporation and the company name was changed to Reed International Limited.[7]
Operations and market segments
Scientific, Technical & Medical
RELX's Scientific, Technical & Medical business provides information, analytics and tools that help investors make decisions that improve scientific and healthcare outcomes. It operates under the name of Elsevier:
ScienceDirect, an online database of primary research, contains 16 million documents.[73]
Scopus is a bibliographic database containing abstracts and citations for academic journal articles. It contains more than 50 million items in more than 20,000 titles from 5,000 publishers worldwide.[74]
Mendeley is a desktop and web program for managing and sharing research papers, discovering research data and collaborating online.[75]
Elsevier is the world's largest publisher of academic articles.
Governance
As of 2021, the board of directors consisted of:[96] In 2019, Harvard Business Review ranked Erik Engström the world's 11th best performing CEO.[97]
In August 2020, RELX announced Sir Anthony Habgood would retire as Chair, to be replaced by Paul Walker in the first half of 2021.[98]
- Chair: Paul Walker
- Chief Executive: Erik Engström
- Chief Financial Officer: Nick Luff
- Non-executive directors:
- Wolfhart Hauser
- Robert MacLeod
- Charlotte Hogg
Corporate affairs
Corporate strategy
From 2011 to 2014, the average annual value of acquisitions was about $300m.[37] The predictability of the company's results in recent years has led to a re-rating of the shares.[99][100][101]
Financial performance
Social responsibility
The RELX Environmental Challenge awards grants to projects advancing access to safe water and sanitation.
Controversy
Mercury contamination in Grassy Narrows
The mercury contamination of the Wabigoon River in Ontario Canada by a corporate subsidiary between 1962 and 1970 was "one of the worst cases of environmental poisoning in Canadian history."[110][111] Reed sold the Dryden Mill to Great Lakes Forest Products in 1980.[111] As of 2017, Grassy Narrows First Nation chief Simon Fobister stated that the river remained highly contaminated.[112]
Academic journal prices
Reed Elsevier has been criticised for the high prices of its journals and services, especially those published by Elsevier.
See also
External links
References
- Annual Results 2025 RELX, retrieved 12 February 2026^
- Our business overview RELX, retrieved 12 February 2026^
- RELX Forbes^