Jul 23, 2026 earnings call — AI-led growth and strong first-half results
Strong first-half: underlying revenue growth 7% and adjusted operating profit growth 9%.
Revenue $6.5B (est $6.5B) · EPS $0.91 (est $0.89)
Key quotes
"This is being supported by the continued evolution of artificial intelligence, which is enabling us to add more value to our customers and to develop and launch products at a faster pace."
"Underlying revenue growth was 7%. Underlying adjusted operating profit growth was 9%, and adjusted earnings per share growth was 11% at constant currency."
"We spent GBP 103 million of the 2 acquisitions in the first half, and we deployed GBP 1.75 billion out of the plan, GBP 2.25 billion, share buybacks this year."
Analyst Q&A 9
STM submissions and LeapSpace adoption
Q (George Webb · Morgan Stanley): Why have publications growth moderated while submissions stay above 20%? How is LeapSpace adoption progressing? Also, latest thoughts on Legal growth opportunity and competition.
A: Management said submissions are up due to more researchers, higher global research spend and productivity tools, but long-term submissions will probably moderate to low double digits. They publish a smaller share of submissions because they are becoming more selective. Early LeapSpace signals are very positive: strong customer feedback, active users almost double in the March-to-June 90-day period, and usage grew faster than users; on Legal the growth is driven by rollout of AI-enabled tools, with users and usage rising faster than institutions.
"I think it's important to look at LeapSpace as a continued evolution of the ScienceDirect AI that we launched a year earlier but lead space overall is going really well." — Erik Engstrom
New sales, Lexis+ adoption, margins
Q (Nick Dempsey): Do strong new sales give confidence for future growth in Risk, STM and Legal? How much Legal growth is from customers upgrading to Lexis+ versus upsells? Are recent margin gains sustainable or timing?
A: They said new sales show momentum but are a small part of current-year revenue and are more a long-term driver than a short-term revenue boost. Most new sales value this year is from the AI-enabled Lexis+ platform—about 90%—and roughly 3/4 of renewal value now comes from the Lexis+ with Protege package; after conversion customers use more tools and there is upside from additional usage. On margin they keep cost growth below revenue growth, GenAI is giving internal efficiencies, and they expect profit growth to continue, though single-period results depend on currency and M&A.
"It is not the most important factor in driving revenue growth in the current year because new sales is a small part of the overall revenue of the company." — Erik Engstrom
Protege add-ons and token costs
Q (Adam Berlin): What add-ons sell after a customer upgrades to Protege? Do you need consumption-based pricing for token usage or can you manage token costs?
A: They said the upgrade to Lexis+ with Protege is a starting point and the company keeps adding tools and functionality over time; one example is Lex Machina legal analytics integrated into Lexis Pro. On tokens, they said they manage token costs on behalf of customers, their setup is more token-efficient because they preprocess content and dynamically choose models, and the cost of tokens is still less than 1% of their overall cost base.
"And of course, the cost of tokens is going up, but it's still less than 1% of our overall cost base." — Erik Engstrom
GenAI internally, STM growth drivers, exhibitions
Q (Ciaran Donnelly): Has internal use of GenAI reduced need for M&A? What must happen to accelerate STM growth? And how do you see the Middle East exhibitions trading?
A: They said GenAI internally is helping them move faster and supports quicker product introduction, while organic development remains the primary focus and M&A is used selectively to enhance or accelerate that. On STM the main driver of growth pickup has been rollout of higher value-add AI-enabled tools; adoption is early and will be gradual because the customer base is fragmented and decision cycles are longer. On Exhibitions they said the rescheduled shows represent about 4% of the divisional revenue and perhaps more like 3% of the divisional revenue left to run, which is less than 0.5% of group revenue, and most are still planned though with some uncertainty.
"Yes, Ciaran , absolutely, the use of Gen AI internally is certainly helping us do things faster." — Nicholas Luff (CFO)
US proposal on research costs and legal AI peers
Q (William Packer): If OMB proposals ban subscription and APC charges on federal awards, how would Elsevier be affected and what can mitigate impact? Also, any comparable metrics versus fast-growing AI-native legal firms?
A: They said the global drivers of scientific research—submission volumes and pace—remain strong despite national policy changes, and those fundamentals drive the business. On the OMB proposal they said they provide customers with choices so authors can publish where needed and see no reason they cannot continue to do that. On legal AI they positioned themselves as an information-focused player in a larger workflow software market, embedding frontier AI in their products within a secure environment, and expect to capture a portion of the large opportunity rather than directly competing with workflow software vendors.
"We make sure we provide our customers with the choice so they can publish in the journal that meets whatever criteria they need to follow." — Nicholas Luff (CFO)
Buybacks, Risk growth, Doin acquisition
Q (Thymen Rundberg): Does faster buyback deployment change capital allocation priorities? What drives Risk's sustainable growth and where can it outperform? What did the Doin deal add?
A: They said there is no change to capital allocation: organic development and necessary CapEx are first priorities, M&A is used where it enhances organic growth, and buybacks are the balancing figure while being mindful of leverage and share price. For Risk they said the division has averaged about 8% annual growth over the last decade (generally 7%–9% excluding early COVID), mainly driven by rolling out higher value decision tools which typically take about 5 years to fully roll out. On Doin they said it brings a valuable French content set, workflow tools and AI that complement their French business and is the kind of small, targeted M&A they will pursue.
"On the buyback, absolutely no change in approach to capital allocation." — Nicholas Luff (CFO)
Claude for Science and exhibitions travel effects
Q (Steven Craig Liechti): Any uptake or feedback comparing Claude for Science to LeapSpace? For Arabian travel show, what share are western visitors/exhibitors? Is Exhibitions like-for-like 6% affected by Middle East travel disruption?
A: They said tools like Claude for Science are external LLM providers adding workflow layers to model capability and generally support the conduct of science; these are positive enablers for science and for their business. LeapSpace focuses on the research workflow in a verified, secure space and they see such external tools as complementary rather than competitive. On the Arabian show and Exhibitions they reiterated the shows yet to run account for about 3% of divisional revenues or less than 0.5% of group revenue, the Arabian show is heavily international, and the 6% like-for-like was moderated by travel disruption from and through the Middle East to other events.
"The way we look at this is these are tools that are being provided by others." — Erik Engstrom
Anthropic settlement and print profit trend
Q (Christophe Cherblanc): How will the Anthropic settlement show up in STM revenue and profit, and will print profit resilience continue for the full year?
A: They declined to comment on individual legal settlements and said any receipt from a legal settlement is not revenue but an offset within costs. On print they said they aim to reduce exposure through outsourcing and joint ventures while holding as much profit as possible and expect a continued high single-digit decline in print profit as they move through this transition.
"But what I would say is any receipt from a legal settlement is not revenue." — Nicholas Luff (CFO)
Legal growth wording and auto risk data
Q (Joseph Barnet-Lamb · UBS): Is the Legal acceleration sustainable and how do you define 'strong'? For auto insurance, will data needs shift to new types like vehicle usage and location?
A: They said in their language '6 and above is strong' and that both Legal and STM aim to continue improving growth trajectories; many customers are subscription-based so growth improves gradually rather than jumping every period. On auto risk they said advancing safety and autonomy tends to reduce accident frequency but raise repair severity, increasing complexity and creating a long-term opportunity for third parties that collect and expand data sets; they are already broadening data collection including inputs from car manufacturers and technology tools.
"So Joe, in our language, 6 and above is strong, and that's the terminology we use for everything from there." — Nicholas Luff (CFO)