Shareholders in Relx have had little cause to grumble over recent years (Simon Duke writes). The business information and publishing conglomerate has trebled in value since the last financial crisis.
This year, however, the FTSE 100 group formerly known as Reed Elsevier has stumbled. Its shares have fallen by a fifth since hitting an all-time high in February amid concerns over its corporate events division, reducing its valuation to £32 billion.
The pandemic has hammered the business of arranging trade fairs and exhibitions, in which Relx is the world’s second largest player, after Informa. Yesterday, the company warned that its events wing would lose up to £210 million this year.
Relx is running shows in China and Japan, but in Europe and the Americas it
