RELX PLC (NYSE:RELX) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

Page 6 of 10

Yes, we are launching again. We have about 15 launches planned for 2023, not quite as many as we had historically. But that number is coming up. And your other question is on interest and tax, the tax rate. The 21.3 we had in the full-year 2022 is a normal sort of rate within that 21%, 22% range. The U.K. corporation tax rate, of course, is €“ they’ve announced this is going up in April, although that’s changed a few times and been unannounced and then re-announced. But if that goes ahead, that would add a bit to the tax rate. So, over time then, you’d expect it to settle in the sort of 22% to 23% range, and most of that step-up would occur in this year. And you asked about interest cost, as I said in the presentation, interest cost in €“ average cost of gross debt in 2022 was about 3%.

It’s currently about 4%. And based on forward curves, it would change much from that, although we’ll see what happens to interest rates. But that’s a good starting point for your what interest is going to be this year.

Operator: Thank you. We will take our next question from Thomas Singlehurst from Citi. Your line now has been opened. Please go ahead.

Thomas Singlehurst: Yes. Thanks. I was going to joke that it’s Harvey from Allen & Overy, but no, it’s definitely Tom from Citi. The question €“ first one, I’m going to come back to the generative AI. I mean you €“ I think you answered it on the Legal side. And I see the point around embedding those kind of tools in your workflow solutions. I’m interested on the STM side. There’s been some discussion around whether it’s going to set things like the sort of process of preprints back because they’d just be more €“ the signal-to-noise ratio will go down. Can you just talk about how it might impact sort of behavior and sort of fraud levels within STM and whether that has any implications to your business? That was the first question.

Secondly, on Exhibitions, the question was €“ I suppose, very simply, what proportion of your sort of shows are running in the right time slot in 2023 or anticipated to run in the right time slot in 2023? And on the back of that, what’s the right level of recovery versus 2019, adjusted for which shows are taking place at the right time? And then finally, in terms of M&A, obviously, ongoing spend on acquisitions, can you just talk about what we’re most likely to see spend in terms of operating divisions? Thank you.

Erik Engstrom: Okay. I’ll cover the first question. Then I’ll hand over the rest to Nick here to cover. Again, back on generative AI and GPT-based tools at this point. Again, we believe this is one significant development, but it’s one of many. It’s one step but long journey. And yes, it will over time €“ our tools like this over time will influence, I think, many of the things we do, not just in the Legal division, but also in the other divisions, including in STM. And of course, we have had our people look inside this for quite a while. We’ve looked at the tools behind this, the large language models and experimented with them. And we also looked at how individual users can use this, in particular, as you said, authors and submissions in the scientific world.

Page 6 of 10