Relx NV : CONSOLIDATED INTERIM RESULTS FOR THE SIX MONTHS TO 30 JUNE 2015

Issued on behalf of RELX PLC and RELX NV
23 July 2015

CONSOLIDATED INTERIM RESULTS FOR THE SIX MONTHS TO 30 JUNE 2015

RELX Group, the global professional information company, reports continued underlying growth in revenue, operating profit and earnings in the first half of 2015.

Commenting on the results, Anthony Habgood, Chairman, said:
"RELX Group continued to execute on its strategic and financial priorities in the first half of 2015, and we have announced a +6% increase in the interim dividend for RELX PLC and a +17% increase for RELX NV. We have implemented a set of measures that simplify our corporate structure and increase transparency for our shareholders. Earlier this week we took the additional step of fully aligning the parent company boards, and today we are introducing consolidated accounts for our first half results."

Chief Executive Officer, Erik Engstrom, commented:
"We achieved good underlying revenue growth in the first half of 2015, and, through further process innovation across our business, we continued to generate underlying operating profit growth ahead of underlying revenue growth, driving +8% growth in adjusted EPS at constant currencies."

"Our financial position and cash flow remain strong, and investment in organic growth remains our number one priority for cash use, supported by small acquisitions of datasets and analytics."

"The key drivers within our business remain positive, and we are confident that we will deliver another year of underlying revenue, profit, and earnings growth in 2015."

FINANCIAL RESULTS HIGHLIGHTS

Revenue of £2,964m/€4,031m; underlying growth +3%: The underlying growth rate reflects continued growth in electronic and face to face revenues (86% of the total), partially offset by continued print revenue declines.

Adjusted operating profit of £909m/€1,236m; underlying growth +5%: Growth expressed in sterling was +6%, and expressed in euros +18%, reflecting the sharp decline in the euro since the first half of 2014.

Reported operating profit: Reported operating profit, including amortisation of acquired intangible assets, was £737m (£697m) or €1,002m (€850m).

Interest and tax: Adjusted net interest expense was £75m (£69m) or €102m (€84m), with the £6m/€18m increase reflecting higher net borrowings and currency translation effects partly offset by a lower average interest rate. Adjusted tax was £194m (£186m) or €263m (€227m). The adjusted effective tax rate was 23.3%.

Adjusted EPS growth in constant currencies +8%: Adjusted EPS expressed in sterling was +8% to 30.1p, or +21% to €0.410 expressed in euros. The difference in growth rates between the sterling and euro EPS reflects the movement in average exchange rates to €1.36:£1 from €1.22:£1 in the first half of 2014.

Reported EPS: Reported EPS was 21.0p (20.0p) for RELX PLC and €0.313 (€0.268) for RELX NV.

Dividend: We have announced an interim dividend increase of +6% to 7.40p for RELX PLC and +17% to €0.115 for RELX NV. Following the UK government announcement that dividend tax credits will be abolished, future RELX PLC and RELX NV dividends will be equalised without any tax credit gross up (see page 12 for details).

Net debt/EBITDA 2.5x on a pensions and lease adjusted basis (unadjusted 1.9x): Net debt was £3.9bn/€5.5bn on 30 June 2015. The adjusted cash flow conversion rate was 85% (89%). For the full year we expect this rate to be over 90%, in line with prior years.

Organic development: In the first half we continued to develop our global technology platforms across the business, launch new products and services in both existing and adjacent market segments, and extend our reach in high growth markets and geographies. Capital expenditure as a percentage of revenues remained at 5%.

Portfolio development: We completed 11 small acquisitions of content, data and exhibition assets for a total consideration of £69m in the first half, and disposed of assets for £6m.

Share buybacks: In the first half we deployed £300m on share buybacks. In the remainder of 2015 we intend to deploy a further £200m, bringing the full year total to the previously announced £500m (in addition to annual employee share plan purchases of around £30m).

Corporate structure simplification: On 1 July 2015 we implemented the previously announced simplification of our corporate structure, our share listings, and our corporate entity names. In addition, we have now fully aligned the boards of the two parent companies, and we have presented our first half results on a consolidated, rather than combined, basis. The move to consolidated accounts has no impact on any figures, except for a minor positive restatement of the reported EPS for RELX NV.

FULL YEAR 2015 OUTLOOK
The full year outlook is unchanged. The key drivers within our business remain positive, and we are confident that, by continuing to execute on our strategy, we will deliver another year of underlying revenue, profit, and earnings growth in 2015.

ReLX GROUP FINANCIAL SUMMARY

*Change at constant currencies

Adjusted and underlying figures are additional performance measures used by management. Reconciliations between the reported and adjusted figures are set out in note 6 to the condensed consolidated financial information on page 27. The reported operating profit figures are set out in note 2 on page 22. Underlying growth rates are calculated at constant currencies, and exclude the results of all acquisitions and disposals made in both the year and prior year and assets held for sale. Underlying revenue growth rates also exclude the effects of exhibition cycling and timing. Constant currency growth rates are based on 2014 full year average and hedge exchange rates. RELX NV comparative reported earnings per share has been restated to reflect the bonus issue of shares declared on 30 June 2015, and the presentation of condensed consolidated financial information. See note 3 to the condensed consolidated financial information on page 23.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This Results Announcement contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the US Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the US Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. These statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results or outcomes to differ materially from those currently being anticipated. The terms "outlook", "estimate", "project", "plan", "intend", "expect", "should be", "will be", "believe", "trends" and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements. Factors which may cause future outcomes to differ from those foreseen in forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, competitive factors in the industries in which RELX Group operates; demand for RELX Group's products and services; exchange rate fluctuations; general economic and business conditions; legislative, fiscal, tax and regulatory developments and political risks; the availability of third party content and data; breaches of our data security systems and interruptions in our information technology systems; changes in law and legal interpretations affecting RELX Group's intellectual property rights and other risks referenced from time to time in the filings of RELX Group with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

RELX Group is a world-leading provider of information solutions for professional customers across industries. The group employs about 29,500 people of whom about half are in North America. RELX PLC, the London Stock Exchange listed shareholding vehicle, holds 52.9% of the shares in RELX Group. RELX NV, the Amsterdam Stock Exchange listed shareholding vehicle, holds 47.1% of the shares in RELX Group. The shares are traded on the London, Amsterdam and New York Stock Exchanges using the following ticker symbols: London: REL; Amsterdam: REN; New York: RELX and RENX. The total market capitalisation is approximately £22.6bn/€32.4bn.

The 2015 Interim Results are available on the RELX Group website at www.relx.com and from the respective companies:

Click on, or paste the following link into your web browser, to view the associated PDF document.

http://www.rns-pdf.londonstockexchange.com/rns/8287T_-2015-7-22.pdf