Contents

Get more information online

A PDF of the full Annual Report and further

information about our businesses can be

found online at our website: www.relx.com

Chair’s statement

Erik Engstrom

Chief Executive Officer

RELX continued to make good progress in 2019. Our number one strategic priority is unchanged: the organic development of increasingly sophisticated information-based analytics and decision tools that deliver enhanced value to our customers, supplemented by selective acquisitions of targeted data, analytics and exhibition assets that support our organic growth strategies

2019 progress

Our positive financial performance continued in 2019 with underlying revenue growth across all four business areas. Underlying revenue growth was 4%. Underlying operating profit growth was 5%, and adjusted earnings per share grew 7% at constant currencies.

The underlying growth rate reflects good growth in electronic and face-to-face revenues (91% of the total), and the further organic development of our analytics and decision tools.

We also continued to reshape our portfolio through selective acquisitions of targeted data, analytics and exhibitions assets that support our organic growth strategies. We completed 14 acquisitions for a total consideration of £416m, the largest of which was Mack Brooks, a leading organiser of complementary events. Since the year end we acquired ID Analytics, a provider of credit and fraud risk solutions, and Emailage, a provider of email based fraud prevention solutions, both will complement our existing fraud prevention services within Risk & Business Analytics.

With a strong balance sheet and an inherently cash-generative business, the strategic priority order for using our cash is unchanged. First, to invest in the organic development of our business to drive underlying revenue growth; second to support our organic growth strategy with targeted acquisitions; third to grow dividends predictably, broadly in line with EPS growth; fourth to maintain our leverage in a comfortable range; and finally use any remaining cash to buy back shares. As part of this we bought back shares for £600m in 2019 and announced £400m in buybacks for 2020.

Corporate responsibility

We have long recognised that corporate responsibility is important to RELX and is critical to the company’s long-term success. We define corporate responsibility as the way we do business, working to increase our positive impact and reduce any negative impact. It ensures good management of risks and opportunities, helps us attract and retain the best people and strengthens our corporate reputation.

During 2019, RELX remained committed to advancing its unique contributions as a business, which are aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Knowledge is critical to achieving the SDGs by 2030, and during the year we strengthened the free RELX SDG Resource Centre, reaching 1000 sources from across our business and from partners, including UN University and the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data. We used our Scopus citations database and SciVal analytical tool to produce two new SDG graphics on water (SDG 6) and sustainable cities (SDG 11), which reveal the state of research underpinning these goals.

To progress corporate responsibility (CR) across RELX, we prioritised training for employees on our culture of integrity; expanded ISO27001 data protection compliance certification to more parts of our business; focused on inclusion, and increased the number of women in our tech mentoring programme to 95 pairs. We reached 30% women on our executive team. We rolled out our updated Editorial Policy and helped embed accessibility further by creating an Accessibility Advisory Board. Globally 45% of staff volunteered in our communities and 56% of our businesses reached the RELX Environmental Standards.

We also launched the LexisNexis Rule of Law Foundation to facilitate projects with key partners on the rule of law. We held Rule of Law Cafés in London, Singapore and Malaysia to bring together the legal community, business, government and non-governmental organisations to share information on going beyond legal minimums to advance the rule of law.

In the year ahead we will work to further strengthen our CR performance.

Outlook

Key business trends in the early part of 2020 are consistent with the full year 2019, and we are confident that, by continuing to execute on our strategy, we will deliver another year of underlying growth in revenue and in adjusted operating profit, together with growth in adjusted earnings per share on a constant currency basis.

Erik Engstrom

Chief Executive Officer

RELX business overview

RELX business model

RELX is a global provider of information-based analytics and decision tools for professional and business customers. We leverage deep customer understanding to combine leading content and data sets with powerful global technology platforms to build sophisticated analytics and decision tools that deliver enhanced value to our customers.

These products are generally sold through dedicated sales forces direct to customers and are priced on a subscription or transactional basis, often under multi-year contracts. They are predominantly delivered in electronic and face-to-face formats, and, to a small extent, in print.

Our products often account for less than 1% of our customers‘ total cost base but can have a significant and positive impact on the economics of the remaining 99%. Our objective is to continue to enhance the value that we deliver to our customers and over time to grow our own total cost base below our rate of revenue growth on an underlying basis.

Key performance indicators

RELX’s key performance indicators (KPIs) track progress against long-term priorities. At the group level, given the diverse nature of our end markets, we look at the continued migration of the business towards electronic delivery, the increasing introduction of electronic decision tools, group level financial metrics, and corporate responsibility and sustainability metrics. The executive directors’ remuneration policy includes measures linked to the financial KPIs and may also include non-financials. See pages 97 to 109 for details of the implementation of the policy in 2019,

page 110 for the implementation in 2020 and pages 88 to 96 for the remuneration policy to be proposed for approval by shareholders at the Annual General Meeting to be held in April 2020.

In addition, we track KPIs within each market segment, at the product level, relevant to the performance of the specific business units.

Significant group financial KPIs are set out below.

For non-financial KPIs a summary of the corporate responsibility and sustainability performance metrics and targets are set out on pages 37 to 49 in the Corporate Responsibility overview.

Market segments

RELX serves customers in more than 180 countries and has offices in about 40 countries. It employs over 33,000 people, of whom almost half are in North America.

Financial summary by market segment

RELX uses adjusted and underlying figures as additional performance measures. Adjusted figures primarily exclude the amortisation of acquired intangible assets and other items related to acquisitions and disposals, and the associated deferred tax movements. In 2018, we excluded exceptional tax credits, see note 9 on page 145. Reconciliations between the reported and adjusted figures are set out on page 184. Underlying growth rates are calculated at constant currencies, excluding the results of acquisitions until twelve months after purchase, and excluding the results of disposals and assets held for sale. Underlying revenue growth rates also exclude exhibition cycling. Constant currency growth rates are based on 2018 full-year average and hedge exchange rates.

Business overview

Scientific, Technical & Medical provides information and analytics that help institutions and professionals progress science, advance healthcare and improve performance.

Elsevier is headquartered in Amsterdam, with further principal operations in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, St. Louis and Berkeley in North America, London, Oxford, Frankfurt, Munich, Madrid and Paris in Europe, Beijing, Chennai, Delhi, Singapore and Tokyo in Asia Pacific and Rio de Janeiro in South America. It has 8,100 employees and serves customers in over 180 countries.

Revenues for the year ended 31 December 2019 were £2,637m, compared with £2,538m in 2018 and £2,473m in 2017. In 2019, 45% of revenue came from North America, 24% from Europe and the remaining 31% from the rest of the world. Subscription sales generated 75% of revenue, transactional sales 23% and advertising 2%.

Elsevier serves the needs of scientific, technical and medical markets by organising the review, editing and dissemination of primary research, reference and professional education content. Growing from its roots in publishing, Elsevier is creating analytical solutions to serve the needs of science and health, applying technology to authoritative information, providing tools that enable faster and more efficient ways of working, freeing up users to focus on their goals.

Elsevier’s customers are scientists, academic institutions, research leaders and administrators, medical researchers, doctors, nurses, allied health professionals and students, as well as hospitals, research institutions, health insurers, managed healthcare organisations, research-intensive corporations and governments.

Elsevier services fall into four market categories: Primary Research, Databases & Tools, Reference and Pharma Promotion.

Primary Research accounts for around half of revenues. Elsevier serves the global scientific research community, publishing over 496,000 articles in 2019, 60% more than a decade ago. 2019 saw continued strong growth both in article submissions and usage, with over 2m articles submitted and 1bn articles consumed by researchers. In 2019, Elsevier published over 49,000 gold open access articles, a double-digit growth on the previous year, making it one of the largest open access publishers in the world.

Elsevier’s portfolio of 2,500 journals is managed by more than 22,000 editors and many of its journals are the foremost publications in their field. They include flagship titles such as Cell and The Lancet family of journals. Elsevier’s article output accounts for 18% of global research output while garnering a 26% share of citations, demonstrating Elsevier’s commitment to delivering research quality significantly ahead of the industry average.

In 2019, Elsevier launched six new subscription and 100 full open access journals, including Physics Open , Cell Press’ Patterns and JACC: Case Reports.

Research content is distributed and accessed via ScienceDirect, the world’s largest platform dedicated to peer-reviewed primary scientific and medical research. Elsevier continues to invest in and deploy advanced Machine Learning (ML) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) capabilities to help power personalised article recommenders on ScienceDirect, suggesting new knowledge to ScienceDirect readers to expand the scope of their search and discovery.

Pharma Promotion offers customised commercial marketing services to pharmaceutical and medical device companies, building on Elsevier’s trusted global content brands to connect and engage with doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals who are influential decision makers.

Market opportunities

Scientific, technical and medical information markets have good long-term growth characteristics. The importance of research and development to economic performance and competitive positioning is well understood by governments, academic institutions and corporations. This is reflected in the long-term growth in research and development spending and in the number of researchers worldwide. Growth in health markets is driven by ageing populations in developed markets, rising prosperity in developing markets and the increasing focus on improving medical outcomes and efficiency. Given that a significant proportion of scientific research and healthcare is funded directly or indirectly by governments, spending is influenced by governmental budgetary considerations. The commitment to research and health provision does, however, remain high, even in more difficult budgetary environments.

Strategic priorities

Elsevier’s strategic priorities are to: continue to increase content volume and quality; expand content coverage, building out integrated solutions and decision tools combining Elsevier, third-party and customer data; increase content utility, using ‘Smart Content’ to enable new e-solutions; combine content with analytics and technology, focused on measurably improved productivity and outcomes for customers; and continue to drive operational efficiency and effectiveness.

In the primary research market, Elsevier aims to deliver journal and article quality above the industry average at below average cost, leveraging the scale of its platform. We work directly with our customers to understand their objectives and help them reach their research goals in a way that is satisfactory from a content, service and economic perspective. Elsevier looks to enhance quality by building on its premium brands and grow article volume through new journal launches, the expansion of open access journals and growth from emerging markets; and add value to core platforms by implementing capabilities such as advanced recommendations on ScienceDirect and social collaboration through reference manager and collaboration tool Mendeley.

In reference markets, Elsevier’s priorities are to expand content coverage and ensure consistent and seamless linking of content assets across products.

In every market, Elsevier is applying advanced ML and NLP techniques to help researchers, engineers and clinicians perform their work better. For example, in research, ScienceDirect Topics, a free layer of content that enhances the user experience, uses ML and NLP techniques to classify scientific content and organise it thematically, enabling users to get faster access to relevant results and related scientific topics. The feature, launched in 2017, is proving popular, generating 15% of monthly unique visitors to ScienceDirect via a topic page. Elsevier also applies advanced ML techniques that detect trending topics per domain, helping researchers make more informed decisions about their research. Coupled with the automated profiling and extraction of funding body information from scientific articles, this process supports the whole researcher journey; from planning, to execution and funding.

Similarly, in health, Elsevier is developing clinical decision support applications utilising cognitive technologies to map patient and claims data sets, and large image and text content repositories. These applications embedded in technology platforms will enhance the delivery of the right content, in the right care setting, to the right care providers. This will help health professionals perform their work better, make more accurate diagnoses, ensure appropriate care delivery, and save more human lives.

In 2019, Elsevier acquired Parity Computing Inc., further strengthening capabilities in AI to provide high-accuracy entity resolution, profiling and recommendations for scientific, technical & medical content and applications. Elsevier also acquired 3D4Medical, an anatomy education business headquartered in Dublin, Ireland. A recipient of the Apple Design & Innovation Award, 3D4Medical brings world class 3D technology to enhance Elsevier’s leading medical content and education offerings.

Business model, distribution channels and competition

In Primary Research, science and medical research is principally disseminated on a paid subscription basis to the research facilities of academic institutions, governments and corporations and, in the case of medical and healthcare journals, to health institutions, individual practitioners and medical society members.

While paid subscriptions continue to be the primary distribution model, alternative payment models for the dissemination of research have evolved over the past 20 years. Elsevier has long

Business overview

Risk & Business Analytics provides customers with information-based analytics and decision tools that combine public and industry-specific content with advanced technology and algorithms to assist them in evaluating and predicting risk and enhancing operational efficiency.

Risk & Business Analytics, headquartered in Alpharetta, Georgia, has principal operations in California, Florida, Illinois, New York and Ohio in North America as well as London and Paris in Europe and Beijing and Singapore in Asia Pacific. It has about 9,100 employees and serves customers in more than 170 countries.

Revenues for the year ended 31 December 2019 were £2,316m, compared with £2,117m in 2018 and £2,073m in 2017. In 2019, 79% of revenue came from North America, 14% from Europe and the remaining 7% from the rest of the world. Subscription sales generated 37% of revenues, transactional sales 62% and advertising 1%.

Risk & Business Analytics comprises the following market-facing industry/sector groups: Insurance Solutions, Business Services, Data Services (including banking, energy and chemicals, aviation, agriculture and human resources) and Government Solutions.

Insurance Solutions, the largest segment, provides comprehensive data, analytics and decision tools for personal, commercial and life insurance carriers in the US to improve critical aspects of their business. Information solutions, including the most comprehensive US personal loss history database, C.L.U.E., help insurers assess risks and provide important inputs to pricing and underwriting insurance policies. Additional key products include LexisNexis Data Prefill, which provides information on insureds directly into the insurance work stream for 89% of the insurance auto market and LexisNexis Current Carrier, which identifies insurance coverage details and any lapses in coverage.

The focus is on delivering innovative decision tools through a single point of access within an insurer’s infrastructure. LexisNexis Active Insights, our solution for active risk management, connects proprietary linking algorithms with vast amounts of data to proactively inform insurers of key events impacting their policyholders. Insurance Solutions is advancing its strategy to drive more consistency and efficiency in claims through its solution suite, Claims Compass, with Claims Datafill providing data and decisions at first notice of loss and throughout the claim life cycle. Risk Classifier solution, which uses public and motor vehicle records and predictive modelling, is used by around a quarter of the top 50 life insurers to better understand risk and improve underwriting efficiency.

Insurance Solutions continues to make progress outside the US. In the UK, contributory solutions including No Claims Discount module, which automates verification of claims history and Policy Insights, a predictor of motor claims loss, are delivered through the LexisNexis Informed Quotes platform to provide real-time data in the quoting process. In China, Genilex is delivering key vehicle data to auto insurers and is looking to add more analytics solutions. In Brazil, Insurance Solutions is delivering telematics solutions, data and analytics to help motor insurers in underwriting.

criminal investigation and analysis solutions to US federal, state and local and government agencies. These solutions assist health and human services agencies in verifying the identity of, and delivering access for, those in need of public programmes and benefits. We help tax and regulatory agencies verify identities and confirm businesses and assets within the workflow of automated enterprise systems. Our data sharing solutions help public safety agencies find missing children and solve criminal investigations. Our solutions prevent fraud in government programmes, recapture lost revenue, keep communities safe and further national security initiatives.

Market opportunities

We operate in markets with strong long-term growth in demand for high-quality advanced analytics based on industry information and insight, including: insurance underwriting transactions; insurance acquisition, retention and claims handling; tax and public benefits fraud; financial crime compliance; business risk; fraud and identity solutions; due diligence requirements surrounding customer enrolment; security and privacy considerations; and data and advanced analytics for the banking, energy and chemicals, aviation and human resources sectors.

In the insurance segment, growth is supported by increasing transactional activity in the auto, commercial and life insurance markets and the increasing adoption by insurance carriers of more sophisticated data and analytics in the prospecting, underwriting and claims evaluation processes, to assess risk, increase competitiveness and improve operating cost efficiency. Transactional activity is driven by growth in insurance quoting and policy switching, as consumers seek better policy terms.

This activity is stimulated by competition among insurance companies, high levels of carrier advertising and rising levels of internet quoting and policy binding. We continue to expand our services to make it easier for the consumer to transact with an insurer throughout the insurance process. We are developing solutions that bridge insurers and automakers, utilising connectivity as a means to leverage and monetise the data from Advanced Driver Assistance Systems and connected cars, and engage consumers with driving behaviour information, collision detection and other insurance-related services. Our relationships with automakers, currently representing more than 25% of new car sales in the US market, and ability to provide insights to insurers in their workflows make this possible.

Within Business Services, growth opportunities are spurred by evolving fraud schemes resulting in mounting fraud losses, anti-money laundering fines, sanctions, anti-bribery and corruption enforcement, consumer and business credit expansion, and heightened regulatory scrutiny. Demand for compliance solutions in banking and financial services markets includes cross-border payments and trade finance levels. In collections, demand is driven mainly by the ongoing escalation of consumer debt and the prospect of recovering that debt.

Expansion of mobile and digital use cases will continue driving opportunity for solutions that incorporate global data and drive efficiency in risk decision making. Increased regional and country-level demand for data consortia and compliance utilities is also expected to continue.

The increasing demand for our contributory solutions and enriched data to combat criminal activity and deliver better access to services for citizens and businesses is driving growth in government markets. It is about secure, near frictionless service through a multi-layered approach. The level and timing of demand in this market is influenced by government funding and revenue considerations.

Growth in the global energy and chemicals markets is led by changing trade patterns, a drive to embrace sustainability and demand for more sophisticated supply chain solutions. Aviation information markets are being driven by increases in air traffic and the number of aircraft transactions and the digital transformation of the airline industry. Growth in agriculture markets is being driven by adoption of technology and data solutions plus increasing supply chain connectivity.

Strategic priorities

Our strategic goal is to help businesses and governments achieve better outcomes with information and decision support through better insight into the risks and opportunities associated with individuals, other businesses, transactions and regulations. By providing high quality industry data and decision tools, we assist customers in understanding their markets and managing risks efficiently and cost effectively. To achieve this, we are focused on: delivering innovative new products; expanding the range of risk management solutions across adjacent markets; addressing international opportunities in selected markets to meet local needs; further growing our data services businesses, continuing to strengthen our content, technology and analytical capabilities and investing in sales and marketing.

Business overview

Legal provides legal, regulatory and business information and analytics that help customers increase their productivity, improve decision-making and achieve better outcomes.

LexisNexis Legal & Professional is headquartered in New York and has further principal operations in Ohio, North Carolina and Toronto in North America, London and Paris in Europe, and cities in several other countries in Africa and Asia Pacific. It has 10,600 employees worldwide and serves customers in more than 150 countries.

Revenues for the year ended 31 December 2019 were £1,652m, compared with £1,618m in 2018 and £1,686m in 2017. In 2019, 67% of revenue came from North America, 21% from Europe and the remaining 12% from the rest of the world. Subscription sales generated 78% of revenue and transactional sales 22%.

LexisNexis Legal & Professional is organised in market-facing groups. These are supported by global shared services organisations providing platform and product development, operational and distribution services, and other support functions.

In North America, electronic reference, decision tools and analytics help legal and business professionals make better informed decisions in the practice of law and in managing their businesses. The flagship product for legal research and analytics is Lexis Advance, which provides statutes and case law together with analysis and expert commentaries from secondary sources, such as Matthew Bender. Lexis Advance includes the leading citation service, Shepard’s, which advises on the continuing relevance of case law precedents. In North America, LexisNexis also provides customers with news and business information, ranging from daily news to company filings, public records information, legal analytics tools, practical guidance, and efficiency solutions. LexisNexis also partners with law schools to provide services to students as part of their training.

In 2019, LexisNexis continued to enhance Lexis Advance, an innovative web and mobile application designed to transform how legal professionals conduct research and use analytics and data to drive decision-making. Enabled by the New Lexis platform, Lexis Advance allows customers within legal and professional organisations to find relevant information more efficiently, helping drive better outcomes.

LexisNexis continues to invest in and deploy advanced Machine Learning (ML) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) capabilities that help power Lexis Advance. In 2019, these technologies expanded the capabilities of Lexis Answers, a service that semantically understands a user query and provides a starting point answer to legal research. Lexis Advance Answer Cards now include summaries and analytics on judges and expert witnesses, as well as supporting an extended array of question types.

In 2019, LexisNexis expanded the Lexis Advance legal product ecosystem to ensure a more seamless user experience by integrating Intelligize, an analytics solution for review and analysis of SEC filings; CourtLink, a leading supplier of court docket information in the United States; Lexis Advance Quicklaw, a leading research solution in Canada; and Lexis Practice Advisor Canada, a practical guidance solution for Canadian attorneys.

In the Pacific region, LexisNexis continued its focus on providing authoritative local online content embedded in decision tools for legal professionals. In 2019, LexisNexis enhanced Lexis Advance Pacific by incorporating advanced data visualisation with the introduction of Search Term Maps and released integrated search results combining Lexis Advance and Practical Guidance content.

In Asia, LexisNexis successfully migrated all customers to the new Lexis Advance platform, providing new functionalities and an improved user experience to legal professionals across the region. In 2019, Lexis Advance launched new AI and deep-learning tools on the platform, such as Case Recommendation in Malaysia, and won the Technology Excellence Awards for Online Services – Legal in Hong Kong.

Supporting its Rule of Law mission, LexisNexis partnered with the Office of the Attorney-General to launch the consolidated Laws of Fiji online, the region’s first online version of the authorised legislation. LexisNexis Australia is also an official partner in a landmark inquiry led by the Australian Human Rights Commissioner into the challenges to human rights and freedoms presented by emerging technologies such as AI, social media, and big data. As part of this partnership LexisNexis Pacific jointly developed a Vietnamese language version of the Australian Human Rights Commission’s RightsApp.

LexisNexis signed a partnership with the Maldives Family Legal Clinic to provide plain language versions of domestic violence laws to be disseminated to 200 islands across the Maldives. LexisNexis also partnered with the East Malaysia Mobile Court Program and participated in the Matanggal Village expedition in Sabah to help adjudicate cases of statelessness.

Market opportunities

Longer term growth in legal and regulatory markets worldwide is driven by increasing levels of legislation, regulation, regulatory complexity and litigation, and an increasing number of lawyers. Additional market opportunities are presented by the increasing demand for online information solutions, legal analytics and other solutions, along with decision support solutions that improve the quality and productivity of research, deliver better legal outcomes and improve business performance. Notwithstanding this, legal activity and legal information markets are also influenced by economic conditions and corporate activity, as has been seen with the continued subdued environment in North America and Europe.

Strategic priorities

LexisNexis Legal & Professional’s strategic goal is to enable better legal outcomes and be the leading provider of productivity-enhancing information, analytics and information-based decision tools in its market. To achieve this, LexisNexis is focused on introducing next-generation products and solutions on the global New Lexis platform and infrastructure; incorporating advanced technologies including Machine Learning and Natural Language Processing; driving long-term international growth; and upgrading operational infrastructure, improving process efficiency and gradually improving margins.

In the US, LexisNexis is focused on the ongoing development of legal research and practice solutions that help lawyers make data-driven decisions. Over the coming years, progressive product introductions will combine advanced technologies, enriched content and sophisticated analytics to enable LexisNexis customers to make data-driven legal decisions and drive better outcomes for their organisations and clients.

Outside the US, LexisNexis is focused on growing online services and developing further high-quality actionable content and decision tools, including the development of additional practical guidance and analytics tools. Additionally, LexisNexis is focusing on the expansion of its activities in emerging markets.

LexisNexis is also continuing the mission of spreading equality, transparency and access to legal remedies globally through the recently formed LexisNexis Rule of Law Foundation, a non-profit entity that provides financial and other support for projects that aim to advance the Rule of Law around the world.

Business model, distribution channels and competition

LexisNexis Legal & Professional products and services are generally sold directly to law firms and to corporate, government, accounting and academic customers on a paid subscription basis, with subscriptions with law firms often under multi-year contracts.

Principal competitors for LexisNexis in US legal markets are Westlaw (Thomson Reuters), CCH (Wolters Kluwer) and Bloomberg. In news and business information key competitors are Bloomberg and Factiva (News Corporation).

Significant international competitors include Thomson Reuters, Wolters Kluwer and Factiva.

Business overview

Exhibitions is a leading global events business. It combines face-to-face with data and digital tools to help customers learn about markets, source products and complete transactions at over 500 events in almost 30 countries, attracting more than 7m participants.

Reed Exhibitions has its headquarters in London and has further principal offices in Paris, Vienna, Düsseldorf, Moscow, Norwalk (Connecticut), Mexico City, São Paulo, Abu Dhabi, Beijing, Shanghai, Tokyo, Singapore and Sydney. Reed Exhibitions has 4,600 employees worldwide and its portfolio of events serves 43 industry sectors.

Revenues for the year ended 31 December 2019 were £1,269m compared with £1,219m in 2018 and £1,109m in 2017. In 2019, 20% of Reed Exhibitions’ revenue came from North America, 40% from Europe and the remaining 40% from the rest of the world on an event location basis.

Reed Exhibitions organises influential events in key markets focused on addressing the needs of the industry, where participants from around the world meet face-to-face to do business, to network and to learn. Its events encompass a wide range of sectors. They include construction, cosmetics, electronics, energy and alternative energy, engineering, entertainment, gifts and jewellery, healthcare, hospitality, interior design, logistics, manufacturing, media, pharmaceuticals, real estate, recreation, security and safety, transport and travel. Following the acquisition of Mack Brooks, Reed Exhibitions now has strong and growing global positions in new sectors including sheet metal processing (through the Blech portfolio), rail (through the Railtex portfolio), airports (through the Inter Airport portfolio) and industrial fasteners (through the Fastener Fair portfolio).

Market opportunities

Growth in the exhibitions market is influenced both by business-to-business marketing spend and by business investment. Historically, these have been driven by levels of corporate profitability, which in turn has followed overall growth in gross domestic product. Emerging markets and higher growth sectors provide additional opportunities. Reed Exhibitions’ broad geographical footprint and sector coverage allows it to effectively respond to changes in global trade and capture growth opportunities as they emerge.

As some events are held other than annually, growth in any one year is affected by the cycle of non-annual exhibitions.

We define corporate responsibility (CR) as the way we do business, working to increase our positive impact and reduce any negative impact. It ensures good management of risks and opportunities, helps us attract and retain the best people and strengthens our corporate reputation.

It means performing to the highest commercial and ethical standards and channelling our knowledge and strengths, as global leaders in our industries, to make a difference to society. We regularly survey key stakeholders including, in 2019, shareholders, employees, governments and the communities where we operate, to help us identify our material CR issues and to set and test our CR objectives. The Board of Directors, senior management and our Corporate Responsibility Forum oversee CR objectives and performance.

We are a signatory of the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) and are dedicated to advancing the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. These aim to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all people by 2030.

1. Our unique contributions

We make a positive impact on society through our knowledge, resources and skills, including:

Scientific, Technical & Medical

Elsevier, the world’s leading provider of scientific, technical and medical information, plays an important role in advancing human welfare and economic progress through its science and health information, which spurs innovation and enables critical decision-making. Elsevier makes a significant contribution to SDG 3 (Good Health and Well-being). To broaden access to its content, Elsevier supports programmes where resources are often scarce. Among them is Research4Life, a partnership with UN agencies and up to 160 publishers; we provide core and cutting-edge scientific information to researchers in more than 100 developing countries. As a founding partner and leading contributor, Elsevier provides over a quarter of the material available in Research4Life, encompassing approximately 23,500 journals and 86,000 e-books. In 2019, there were over 1.3m Research4Life downloads from ScienceDirect.

Elsevier serves the global scientific research community, publishing over 496,000 articles in 2019. In addition, the Elsevier Foundation supports partnerships to advance inclusion and diversity in science, research in developing countries and global health. In 2019, 35 women scientists from across Africa participated in a Water First! three-day workshop in Accra, Ghana. The aim was to empower African women researchers to advance their work, helping address the disparity of African women on the forefront of the struggle for water security without a proportionate share of agency to affect change. The workshop was led by Elsevier Foundation Board member, Dr. Geri Richmond, who founded the University of Oregon’s COACh programme which aims to increase the scientific success and leadership capacity of women scientists and engineers.

In the year, we created new SDG Graphics to explore the state of science underpinning the SDGs, including for SDG 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation). Research in the field between 2014-2018 had an annual compound growth rate of 8.5% (compared to 2% for all research fields), yet only 1% of the share of output was from low income countries, those most affected by access to decent water and sanitation.

To help address the output gap for low income countries, Elsevier runs Research Without Borders in association with the African Journals Partnership Program, supported by the US National Library of Medicine, US National Institute of Health and the Council of Science Editors. Elsevier experts help their African peers improve the visibility of their research by funding skilled volunteers who provide strategic, editorial communication, and operational guidance. In 2019, participants included Anne Roca, Deputy Editor of Lancet Global Health, and Christine Aime Sempe, a publisher with Elsevier Paris, who worked with Annales Africaines de Medecine in the Democratic Republic of Congo and held author workshops with African editors at Amref’s African Health Agenda International Conference in Rwanda.

1. Our unique contributions (continued)

Risk & Business Analytics

Risk & Business Analytics’ (RBA) tools and resources help law enforcement keep communities safe and protect society by detecting and preventing fraud across a range of business sectors and at US federal, state and local government levels. In the year, LexisNexis Risk Solutions partnered with local police departments, including the Graham Police Department, North Carolina, to provide community crime maps with automated alerts notifying citizens of crimes in their area.

RBA colleagues developed the ADAM programme in 2000 to help the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children find missing children. ADAM distributes missing child alert posters to law enforcement, hospitals, libraries and businesses within specific geographic search areas. In 2019, two children were found through the ADAM programme. In the United Kingdom, Missing People is a key partner and LexisNexis Risk Solutions tools helped reconnect the missing with those searching for them.

It is a catch 22 that you need to have credit to access credit. LexisNexis Risk Solutions is working to address a lending blind spot for those seeking to advance personal objectives likely to be creditworthy (like higher education or professional objectives like expanding a small business) but unable to gain credit because of missing or outdated negative information. Lenders need the right data to lend responsibly, ensuring they only provide loans to those with an ability to pay them back. Our RiskView tool widens financial inclusion for marginalised groups, including those without credit history, by providing alternative data sets not in traditional credit reports, such as home ownership, education status and professional licences. In 2019, we held an event with US organisations, including consumer advocacy groups such as the Center for Responsible Lending, UnidosUS, the Pew Charitable Trusts and the Annie E. Casey Foundation to explore improving equality of access to financial services for more citizens.

Issues can be magnified in developing economies as there are two primary challenges to financial inclusion: identity verification and credit risk. LexisNexis Risk Solutions’ ThreatMetrix, in partnership with fintech partners, is deriving alternative data that can be used to assess risk from consumers who use smartphones. We launched a pilot in Mexico with plans to spread the pilot to more countries and also deploy an account opening fraud detection service for developing economy lenders in 2020.

Legal

LexisNexis Legal & Professional promotes the rule of law and access to justice through its products and services. In 2019, advancing SDG 16 (Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions), LexisNexis Middle East & North Africa launched a new Lexis Middle East platform, an online database providing access to case law, legislation and regulations in English and Arabic, as well as expert commentary in English for Middle East jurisdictions. Drawn from over 300 regional sources, Lexis Middle East is updated daily to inform the legal community.

In 2019, we launched the LexisNexis Rule of Law Foundation to partner with a wide range of stakeholders on rule of law projects around the world. A key tool on the Foundation site is the LexisNexis Rule of Law Impact Tracker, updated with 2019 data, visualising how key measures such as child mortality, corruption, and life expectancy decrease when the rule of law grows.

In the year, we supported the development of the UNGC’s SDG 16 Action Platform and held the first country consultation in Timor-Leste. During the full day workshop, in collaboration with the Timor-Leste Office of Foreign Affairs, seventy entrepreneurs explored how supporting the SDGs can help their businesses and their country.

We also held Rule of Law Cafés throughout 2019 in London, Singapore and Malaysia, bringing together stakeholders, including customers, government, NGOs and law societies, to discuss opportunities to go beyond legal minimums to advance the rule of law. During UN General Assembly week 2019, we held a public event on business and human rights with Ambassador Keith Harper, former US representative to the Council on Human Rights, live-streamed to RELX employees and made available afterward on the RELX SDG Resource Centre.

Exhibitions

Reed Exhibitions events strengthen communities and support the SDGs. In 2019, we held the 12th annual World Future Energy Summit (WFES) which aims to accelerate global commitment to climate change solutions. The event engaged some 34,000 attendees, including 15 heads of state, 100 ministers and more than 3000 business leaders and students, as well as 800 exhibiting companies from over 40 countries. WFES facilitated sustainability deals that will impact 20 countries with a combined estimated value of more than $10 billion. These included Solar Energy Corporation of India’s plans for a $7 billion Cold Desert Regions Ultra-Mega Solar Power project and Abu Dhabi National Energy Company PJSC and LakeDiamond partnership agreement on photovoltaic cells and power-beaming technology.

In the year, planning advanced for the first Smart Cities Expo & Forum at World Future Energy Summit 2020 to bring together governments and municipalities with leaders in smart infrastructure, future transportation and next-generation building technology to advance sustainable cities.

On the theme of SDG 11, Sustainable Cities and Communities, colleagues at Reed Exhibitions India supported our Good Cities 2019 SDG Inspiration Day in Delhi which connected necessary contributors to more sustainable cities including government, business, and civil society. Among others, Amit Sharma, Head of Energy and Sustainability Services at Schneider Electric India, and Aditi Haldar, South-Asia Director of GRI, explored the challenges of health planning for urban populations and the future jobs and skills required to deliver smart city data and infrastructure.

1. Our unique contributions (continued)

2. Governance

Our Board recognises the importance of maintaining high standards of corporate governance, which underpins our ability to deliver consistent financial performance, and value to our stakeholders. The 2018 UK Corporate Governance Code (UK Code) applied to RELX PLC from 1 January 2019. During the year, the Board took steps to ensure that RELX fully addressed the requirements of the UK Code. This included reviewing the Company’s approach to engaging with key stakeholders, assessing RELX’s culture, aligning our purpose, strategy and values, and assessing the Group’s Workforce Policies.

RELX PLC is the sole parent company of the group. It owns 100% of the shares in RELX Group plc which, in turn, holds all of the operating businesses, subsidiaries and financing activities of the group. RELX PLC, its subsidiaries, associates and joint ventures are together known as RELX.

Following the simplification of our corporate structure which took place in 2018, the shares of RELX PLC are traded through its primary listing on the London Stock Exchange and its secondary listing on Euronext Amsterdam, while its securities are also traded on the New York Stock Exchange under its American Depositary Share Programme. Accordingly, the Board has implemented standards of corporate governance and disclosure applicable to a UK incorporated company, with listings in London, Amsterdam and New York.

During the year the Board took steps to ensure we fully addressed the requirements of the UK Code. This included reviewing the company’s approach to engaging with key stakeholders, assessing the company culture and aligning our purpose, values, strategy and workforce policies.

Information and documents detailing our governance procedures are available to stakeholders online at www.relx.com. The RELX financial statements are prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards.

The RELX Code of Ethics and Business Conduct (the Code) sets the standard for our corporate and individual conduct and, among key issues, covers fair competition, anti-bribery, conflicts of interest, employment practices, data protection and appropriate use of company property and information. It also encourages reporting of violations – with an anonymous reporting option where legally permissible – and prohibits retaliation against anyone for reporting a violation they believe may have occurred.

The Code supports the principles of the UNGC and stresses our commitment to human rights. In accordance with the UN’s Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, we have considered where and how we operate to ensure we uphold human rights. In 2019, we updated our Modern Slavery Act Statement, available from the RELX homepage, which states how we are working to avoid human trafficking and modern slavery in our direct operations and in our supply chain.

We maintain a comprehensive set of compliance policies and procedures in support of the Code reviewed at least annually to ensure they remain current and effective. Our policies and procedures help us comply with the law and conduct our business in an open, honest, ethical and principled way, and they comprise part of our antibribery adequate procedures for compliance with applicable laws.

3. People (continued)

4. Customers

In 2019, we surveyed more than 510,000 customers through Net Promoter Score (measuring customer advocacy) and business dashboard programmes. This allows us to deepen our understanding of customer needs and drive improvements. Results are reviewed by the CEO and senior operational managers and communicated to staff.

In the year, we disseminated our updated Editorial Policy to employees, along with a new video series to hear from colleagues on how the Editorial Policy underpins their work. The Editorial Policy indicates our respect for human rights and encourages pluralism of sources, ideas and participants. It makes clear our commitment to data privacy and security and the responsible use of artificial intelligence.

We are committed to improving access to our products and services for all users, regardless of physical ability. Our Accessibility Policy aims to lead the industry in providing accessibility solutions to customers, with products that are operable, understandable and robust. In 2019, members of the

Accessibility Working Group logged over 230 accessibility projects and Elsevier’s Global Books Digital Archive fulfilled more than 4,400 disability requests, 87% of them through AccessText.org, a service we helped set-up. We established an Accessibility Advisory Board in the year comprised of accessibility leaders in the business to review approaches to training, customer inquiries, compliance models, and screen reader tools. We also established the second RELX Accessibility Leadership Awards to celebrate employees who show exceptional leadership in advancing accessibility.

CR as a Sales Tool is one of our key CR networks helping employees share information about our commitment to CR with their customers as a way of differentiating the company and creating dialogue to understand customer CR priorities and opportunities for collaboration. In 2019, with the creation of a new global RELX intranet site, we refreshed existing content and added resources such as Talking to Our Customers About the SDGs.

5. Community

RE Cares, our global community programme, supports employee volunteering and giving that makes a positive impact on society. In addition to local initiatives of importance to employees, the programme’s core focus is on education for disadvantaged young people that advances one or more of our unique contributions as a business. Staff have up to two days paid leave per year for their own community work. We donated £4m in cash (including through matching gifts) and the equivalent of £14.7m in products, services and staff time in 2019. Globally, 45% of employees were engaged in volunteering through RE Cares and we reached 26,500

6. Supply chain (continued)

7. Environment

Our environmental targets reflect our environmental impacts and input from stakeholders and use science-based methodology. They include a commitment to certify 50% of the business against the ISO 14001 Environmental Management System standard by 2020. In 2019, we purchased 96% of our electricity from renewable energy and Renewable Energy Certificates. Full performance data can be found in the 2019 Corporate Responsibility Report (www. relx.com/go/crreport).

In the year, we attained an A- grade in CDP’s climate change programme. RELX is one of the Mayor of London’s London Business Climate Leaders committed to cutting pollution and emissions in excess of UK government thresholds. The goal is to help London, where we are headquartered, to become a zero carbon city by 2050.

Our Environmental Champions group, employee-led Green Teams and external networks, such as the Publishers’ Database for Responsible Environmental Paper Sourcing, provide significant insight into managing our environmental impacts. Our Environmental Standards programme sets benchmark performance and inspires green competition between offices. In 2019, 45 sites (56% of key locations) achieved five or more standards and attained green status. The RELX CFO, our most senior environmental champion, wrote to all staff on World Environment Day, sharing our environmental priorities and recognising environmental achievements across the business.

We have a positive environmental impact through our environmental products and services, which spread good practice, encourage debate and aid researchers and decision makers. The most recent results from the independent Market Analysis System show that our share of citations in environmental science represented 63% of the total market and 49% in energy and fuels.

The €50,000 winner of Elsevier’s 2019 Green and Sustainable Chemistry Challenge was Ramia Albakain, Associate Professor at the University of Jordan, who developed a green technique to remove toxic metal from wastewater, making it safe for agricultural irrigation and addressing chronic water shortages due to Jordan’s arid climate.

We have reported on all emission sources required under the Companies Act 2006 (Strategic Report and Directors’ Report) Regulations 2013. We have included emissions from all operating companies within the Group.

We have used the GHG Protocol Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard (revised edition) and the data has been assured by an independent third party, EY. Details on methodology and the assurance statement can be viewed in the 2019 Corporate Responsibility Report at www.relx.com/go/CRReport.