Earnings per share and dividends

RISK FACTORS

The principal and emerging risks facing our business are included below. Additional risks not presently known to us or that we currently deem immaterial may also impair our business.

Covid-19 PandemicCompromisesofourcybersecuritysystemsandotherunauthorisedaccesstoourdatabases,couldadverselyaffectourbusiness andoperations.

Our business performance and financial condition has been adversely affected by the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and may continue to be impacted in ways that are difficult to predict.

The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on RELX’s business will depend on a range of factors which we are not able to accurately predict. Those factors include the duration and scope of the pandemic, new information which may emerge concerning the severity of the pandemic, the geographies impacted, changes in worldwide economic conditions, reductions in customer spending, disruptions and volatility in the global capital markets and the nature, severity and duration of measures adopted by governments to control the Covid-19 pandemic.​

Our business performancemaintains and financial condition may be adversely affected by negative changes in general economic conditions. Further deteriorations in economic conditions, as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic or otherwise, could lead to a further or prolonged decline in customer demand foruses online databases and platforms delivering our products and services, which we rely on, and negatively impactprovide data to third parties, including customers and service providers. These databases and information are a target for compromise and face a risk of unauthorised access and use by unauthorised parties including through cyber, ransomware and phishing attacks on us or our business. Declinethird-party service providers.

Our cyber security measures, and the measures used by our third-party service providers, may not detect or volatility in customer demand for oneprevent all attempts to compromise our systems, which may jeopardise the security of the data we maintain or moremay disrupt our systems. Failures of our products duecyber security measures could result in unauthorised access to cost-cutting, reduced spending, reduced activityour systems, misappropriation of our or delayed renewals by our customers may impact RELX’s revenues and profits.

Containment measures that governments adoptusers’ data, deletion or that we take, such as quarantinesmodification of stored information or other travel restrictions and site closures, may interfere with the ability ofinterruption to our employees, vendors and data suppliersbusiness operations. As techniques used to perform their respective responsibilities and obligations. In Exhibitions, the main exhibition venues in Europe and the US remain closed. We ran physical events in the second half of 2020 in venues that have reopened, but these may close again. The events that ran have typically been smaller than their prior editions.

Disruption and volatility in financial markets and capital markets may adversely impact RELX’sobtain unauthorised access to financing or the terms of any such financing.

These factors have had an adverse impact on our business performance this year (in particular on our Exhibitions business segment)to sabotage systems change frequently and could further adversely impact our business performance as well as having an adverse impact on our financial condition in future years. To the extent the Covid-19 pandemic adversely affects our business performance and financial results, it may also have the effect of heightening a number of the other risks described below.

External Risks

Current and future economic, political and market forces, and dislocations beyond our control may adversely affect demand for our products and services.

Demand for our products and services may be adversely impacted by factors beyond our control, such as the economic environment in, and trading relations between, the United States, Europe and other major economies (including the evolution of the United Kingdom’s trading relationship with the European Union), political uncertainties, acts of war and civil unrest as well as levels of government and private funding provided to academic and research institutions.

Our intellectual property rights may not be adequately protected under current lawsknown until launched against us or our third-party service providers we may be unable to anticipate or implement adequate measures to protect against these attacks and our service providers and customers may likewise be unable to do so.

Compromises of our or our third-party service providers’ systems could adversely affect our financial performance, damage our reputation and expose us to risk of loss, fines and penalties, litigation and increased regulation.

Regulatorychangesregardingthecollectionanduseofthird-partyinformationbyusorcompromisesofourdataprivacycontrols andotherunauthorisedaccesstoourdatabases,couldadverselyaffectourbusiness andoperations.

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Our business relies extensively on content and data from public records, governmental authorities, publicly available information and media, customers, end-users and other information companies, including competitors. Changes in some jurisdictions, whichdata privacy legislation, regulation, and/or enforcement could impact our ability to collect and utilise data, potentially affecting the effectiveness of our products. Failure or perceived failure to comply with requirements for proper collection, use, storage and transfer of data, by ourselves, or our third-party service providers, or other data loss incidents may damage our reputation, divert time and effort of management and other resources, and expose us to risk of loss, fines and penalties, litigation and increased regulation.

Ourintellectualpropertyrightsmaynotbeadequatelyprotectedundercurrentlawsinsomejurisdictions,whichmayadversely affect our results and our ability togrow.

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Our products and services include and utilise intellectual property. We rely on trademark, copyright, patent, trade secret and other intellectual property laws to establish and protect our proprietary rights in this intellectual property. There is a risk that our proprietary rights could be challenged, limited, invalidated or circumvented, which may impact demand for and pricing of our products and services. Copyright laws are subject to national legislative initiatives, as well as cross-border initiatives such as those from the European Commission and increased judicial scrutiny in several jurisdictions in which we operate. This creates additional challenges for us in protecting our proprietary rights in content delivered through the internet and electronic platforms.

RegulatoryCurrentandfuturegeopolitical,economicandmarketconditions,anddislocationsbeyondourcontrolmayadverselyaffect demand for our products andservices.

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Demand for our products and services, and our ability to operate internationally, may be adversely impacted by geopolitical, economic and market conditions beyond our control. These include acts of war and civil unrest, political conflicts and tensions, international sanctions, the impact of the effect of changes regardingin inflation and interest rates in major economies, trading relations between the collection and use of third-party information by us or compromises of our data privacy controlsUnited States, Europe, China and other unauthorised accessmajor economies, as well as levels of government and private funding for our markets.

effectively with Changesinthepaymentmodelforour customers. Examples of data privacy laws relating to internet communications, privacy scientific,technicaland data protection, e-commerce, information governance and use of public records, include the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation and the California Consumer Privacy Act, as well as evolving regulation in many jurisdictions where RELX operates.

Compromise of data privacy, through a failure of our cyber security measures (see “Compromises of our cyber security systems and other unauthorised access to our databases could adversely affect our businesses and operations” below), other data loss incidents medicalprimaryresearchproductsor failure to comply with requirements for proper collection, storage and transmittal of data, by ourselves, or our third-party service providers, may damage our reputation and expose us to risk of loss, fines and penalties, litigation and increased regulation.

Changes in the payment model for our scientific, technical and medical primary research products or alternativepublication channels for our content could adversely affect ouroperations.

Our​

Traditionally our Scientific, Technical & Medical (“STM”)(STM) primary research content like that of most of our competitors, is sold largelypublishing business has operated on a paid subscription basis.pay to read model, where readers or their institutions, as users of the content pay, and authors publish for free. Over time, an alternative model has gained traction where authors or their institutions or funding bodies prefer to pay to publish their research, so it is freely available to read. The latter model is commonly referred to as Open Access. There is continued debate in government, academic and library communities, regarding the payment models and the extent to which are the principal customers for our STM content, regarding to what extent suchresearch content should be funded instead through fees chargedfreely available to authorsread, either immediately on publication or authors’ funders and/or made freely available in some form after a period following publication. Some of these methods, if widely adopted,Changes in customer choice or regulation in this area could adversely affectimpact the mix and overall level of revenue generated by our revenue from paid subscriptions.primary research publishing business.

Strategic Risks​

Weoperateinahighlycompetitiveanddynamicenvironmentthatissubjecttorapidchangeandcannotassureyouthattherewill be continued demand for our products andservices.

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Our businesses arebusiness is dependent on the continued demand by our customers for our products and services and the value placed on them. They operate in highly competitive and dynamic markets, and the means of delivery, customer demand for, and the products and services themselves, continue to change in response to rapid technological innovations, legislative and regulatory changes, the entrance of new competitors, and other factors. Failure to anticipate and quickly adapt to these changes, or to deliver enhanced value to our customers, could impact demand for our products and services and consequently adversely affect our revenue or the long-term returns from our investment in electronic product and platform initiatives.

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Our business may be adversely affected by the failure of third parties to whom we have outsourced business activities.

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Our organisational and operational structures depend on suppliers including outsourced and offshored functions, as well as cloud service providers. Poor performance, failure or breach of third parties to whom we have contracted could adversely affect our business performance, reputation and financial condition.

We source content to enable information solutions for our professional customers. The disruption or loss of data sources, either because of data localisation regulations, or because data suppliers decide not to supply them, may not realise allimpose limits on our collection and use of certain kinds of information and our ability to communicate, offer or make such information available or useful to our customers.

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Failures of our cyber security measures could result in unauthorised access to our systems, misappropriation of our or our users’ data, deletion or modification of stored information or other interruption to our business operations. As techniques used to obtain unauthorised access to or to sabotage systems change frequently and may not be known until launched against us or our third-party service providers, we may be unable to anticipate or implement adequate measures to protect against these attacks, and our service providers and customers may likewise be unable to do so.

Compromises of our or our third-party service providers’ systems, or failure to comply with applicable legislation or regulatory or contractual requirements could adversely affect our financial performance, damage our reputation and expose us to risk of loss, fines and penalties, litigation and increased regulation.

Our businesses may be adversely affected by the failure of third parties to whom we have outsourced business activities.

Our organisational and operational structures depend on outsourced and offshored functions, including use of cloud service providers. Poor performance, failure or breach of third parties to whom we have outsourced activities could adversely affect our business performance, reputation and financial condition.

We may be unable to implement and execute our strategic and business plans if we cannot recruit and retainskilledemployeesand management.

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The implementation and execution of our strategies and business plans depend on our ability to recruit, motivate, develop and retain a diverse population of skilled employees and management. We compete globally and across business sectors for diverse, talented management and skilled individuals, particularly those with technology and data analytics capabilities. An inability to recruit, motivate or retain such people could adversely affect our business performance. Failure to recruit and develop talent regardless of gender, race or other characteristics could adversely affect our reputation and business performance.

Financial Risks

Changes in the market values of defined benefit pension scheme assets and in the assumptions used to value defined benefit pension scheme obligations may adversely affect our businesses.

We operate a number of pension schemes around the world, including local versions of the defined benefit type in the UK and the United States. The US scheme is closed to future accruals. The UK scheme has been closed to new hires since 2010. The members who continue to accrue benefits now represent a small and reducing portion of the overall UK based workforce. The assets and obligations associated with these pension schemes are sensitive to changes in the market values of the scheme’s investments and the market-related assumptions used to value scheme liabilities. Adverse changes to asset values, discount rates, longevity assumptions or inflation could increase funding requirements.

Changes in tax laws or uncertainty over their application and interpretation may adversely affect our reported results.

Our businesses operate globally, and our profits are subject to taxation in many different jurisdictions and at differing tax rates. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is continuing to explore changes to the way in which profits are allocated for tax purposes between jurisdictions and other reforms, with a view to obtaining international consensus in 2021. As a result of the OECD’s work and other initiatives, tax laws that currently apply to our businesses may be amended by the relevant authorities or interpreted differently by them, and these changes could adversely affect our reported results.

Fluctuations in exchange rates may affect our results.

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The RELX PLC consolidated financial statements are expressed in pounds sterling and are subject to movements in exchange rates on the translation of the financial information of businesses whose operational currencies are other than sterling. The United States is our most important market and, accordingly, significant fluctuations in the US dollar exchange rate could significantly affect our reported results. We also earn revenues and incur costs in a range of other currencies, including the euro and the yen, and significant fluctuations in these exchange rates could also significantly impact our reported results.

Market conditions and credit ratings may affect the availability and cost of funding.

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Macroeconomic, political and market conditions may adversely affect the availability and terms of shortshort- and long-term funding, volatility of interest rates, the credit quality of our counterparties, currency exchange rates and inflation. The majority of our outstanding debt instruments are, and any of our future debt instruments may be, publicly rated by independent rating agencies. Our borrowing costs and access to capital may be adversely affected if the credit ratings assigned to our debt are downgraded.

Our impairment analysis Changesinthemarketvaluesof goodwill definedbenefitpensionschemeassetsand indefinite lived intangible assets incorporates various intheassumptions which are highly judgmental. If these assumptions are not realised, weusedtovaluedefinedbenefit pension scheme obligations may be required to recognise a charge in the future for impairment.

As at December 31, 2020, goodwill on the consolidated statement of financial position amounted to £7,224 million and intangible assets with an indefinite life amounted to £111 million. We conduct an impairment test at least annually, which involves a comparison of the carrying value of goodwill and indefinite lived intangible assets by cash generating unit with estimated values in use based on latest management cash flow projections. The assumptions used in the estimation of value in use are, by their very nature, highly judgmental, and include profit growth of the business over a five-year forecast period, the long-term growth rate of the business thereafter, and related discount rates. There is no guarantee that our businesses will be able to achieve the forecasted results which have been included in the impairment tests and impairment charges may be required in future periods if we are unable to meet these assumptions.

Reputational Risks

Breaches of generally accepted ethical business standards or applicable statutes concerning bribery, corruption, fraud, sanctions, and competition could adversely affect our reputationbusiness.

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We operate a number of pension schemes around the world, including local versions of the defined benefit type in the United Kingdom and financial condition.the United States. The US scheme is closed to future accruals. The UK scheme has been closed to new hires since 2010. The members who continue to accrue benefits now represent a small and reducing portion of the overall UK based workforce. The

ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE

RELX PLC is a publicly-heldpublicly held entity with its shares listed on the London, Amsterdam and New York stock exchanges.

Trading on the New York Stock Exchange is in the form of American Depositary Shares (“ADSs”) evidenced by American Depositary Receipts (“ADRs”) issued by Citibank N.A., as depositary.

Subsidiaries, Associates, Joint Ventures and Business Units

A list of subsidiaries, associates, joint ventures and business units is included as Exhibit 8.0 to this Annual Report on Form 20-F.

HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT

Introduction

RELX PLC was originally incorporated in 1903. In 1993, RELX PLC combined with RELX NV by contributing their respective businesses into two jointly owned companies. In 2015, the structure was simplified so that all of the businesses were owned by one jointly controlled company, RELX Group plc. In 2018, the structure was further simplified whereby RELX NV merged into RELX PLC to form a single parent company, RELX PLC. RELX PLC owns 100% of the shares in RELX Group plc, which in turn owns all of the operating businesses, subsidiaries and financing activities of the Group.

Material acquisitions and disposals

Total cash spent on acquisitions in the three years ended December 31, 2020,2022, was £2,271£1,596 million. Cash spent on acquisitions (including borrowingsdebt in acquired businesses) in 2020 was £874 million, (2019: £437 million; 2018: £960 million)in 2021 was £262 million and in 2022 was £460 million, excluding borrowings in acquired businesses of £3 million in 2020, nil in 2021 and £3 million in 2022 and including deferred consideration of £5 million (2019: £24 million; 2018: £16 million)in 2020, £19 million in 2021 and £21 million in 2022 on past acquisitions and spendinvestments in joint ventures and associates of nil in 2020 and 2021 and £58 million in 2022. Spend on venture capital investments ofwas £2 million (2019:in 2020, £8 million; 2018: £13 million).million in 2021 and £8 million in 2022.

Net cash inflow in relation tofrom disposals made in 2020, after timing differences and separation and transaction costs was £29 million (2019: £48 million; 2018: £5 million).in 2020, £190 million in 2021 and £3 million in 2022.

Capital expenditure

Capital expenditure on property, plant, equipment and internally developed intangible assets principally relates to the development of electronic products and investment in systems infrastructure, computer equipment and office facilities. Total such capital expenditure, which was financed using cash flows generated from operations, amounted to £364 million, £337 million and £436 million in 2020, (2019: £381 million; 2018: £365 million).2021 and 2022, respectively. The majority of capital expenditure is incurred in the United States, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. In 2020,2022, there was continued investment in new products and related infrastructure. Further information on capital expenditure is included in notes 2, 1514 and 1716 to the consolidated financial statements under the headings ‘Revenue,

PROPERTY, PLANT AND EQUIPMENT

We own or lease approximately 223202 properties around the world as at December 31, 2020.2022. The table below identifies the principal owned and leased properties in our property portfolio as at December 31, 2020.2022.

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All of the above properties are substantially occupied by RELX with the exception of the New York, New York property which has been subleased to new tenants and no longer houses any RELX staff.RELX.

No property owned or leased by us which is considered material to us taken as a whole is currently subject to liabilities relating to environmental regulations and none has major encumbrances.

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

Our products and services include and utilise intellectual property content delivered through a variety of media, including online, journals and books. We rely on trademark, copyright, patent, trade secret and other intellectual property laws, as well as in some cases licensing arrangements with third parties, to establish and protect our proprietary rights in these products and services.

Numerous Iranian nationals attended conferences organised by our Exhibitions and Risk businesses.business areas. Individuals located in Iran also subscribed to or purchased certain of our scientific, medical and technical publications. Many of these individuals are researchers, doctors or other professionals who have obtained subscriptions or purchased publications in their individual capacity, but who may be employed by government agencies in Iran or by hospitals, universities or other entities owned or controlled by the government of Iran. In addition, we work with authors, other contributors and journal editorial board members who are located in Iran, many of whom are employed at hospitals, universities or research institutions that are owned or controlled by the government of Iran. We also sometimes receive payments from authors located in Iran who pay us to make their articles publicly available. From time to time, we may employ or engage individuals in Iran to assist with transactions in Iran.

Our aggregate revenue attributable to these Iran-related activities was approximately £1.5 million during the fiscal year ended December 31, 2020 attributable to these Iran-related activities was approximately £4.5 million2021 compared to £1.8 million in 2019.during the fiscal year ended December 31, 2022. We do not customarily allocate net profit on a subscription-by-subscription, individual customer or country-by-country basis. However, we estimate that our net profit during the fiscal year ended December 31, 2020 attributable to these activities was 0.06%0.02% of our net profit reported in our income statement for the fiscal year ended December 31, 20202021 compared to 0.02% for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2019.2022.

Entities that transacted with our Scientific, Technical & Medical Business Area in 20202022

Abadan University of Medical Sciences, Agricultural Biotechnology Research Institute of Iran, Agricultural Research Education and Extension Organization, Ahvaz Jondishapour University of Medical Sciences, Alborz University of Medical Sciences, Allameh Tabataba’i University, Alzahra University, Amirkabir University of Technology, ArdabilArdebil University of Medical Sciences, Babol Noshirvani University of Technology, BaqiyatallahBabol University of Medical Sciences, Bu Ali Sina University, BushehrScience, Birjand University of Medical Sciences, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Golestan University of Medical Sciences and Health Services, GonabadGorgan University of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, Hakim Sabzevari University, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Health Electronic Library,Ilam University, Ilam University of Medical Sciences, Imam Khomeini International University, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Iran University of Science and Technology, Iranian Fisheries