Elsevier sees 2019 profit and revenue lift

Elsevier saw revenues for the year to end December 2019 up 3.9% to £2,637m (£2,538m in 2018), with underlying growth at constant currency at 2%. Underlying adjusted operating profit rose 3% to £982m, slightly ahead of underlying revenue growth.

Electronic revenues saw continued good growth, partially offset by print declines, said parent company RELX, in its annual report.

In Elsevier‚Äôs Primary Research segment, which accounts for around half of its revenues, 2019 saw “continued strong growth both in article submissions and usage, with over two million articles submitted and one billion articles consumed by researchers”, the company said. 2019 also saw Elsevier publish over 49,000 gold Open Access articles, a double-digit growth on the previous year, with the company saying it continued to gain market share. Six new subscription journals and 100 full Open Access journals were launched last year.

In 2019, 45% of Elsevier's 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%.

In its forecast for the 2020, RELX said it expected for Elsevier “another year of modest underlying revenue growth, with underlying operating profit growth exceeding underlying revenue growth”.

Overall RELX reported underlying growth of 4% to a total of £7,874m, and underlying adjusted operating profit growth of 5%, at £1,964m. C.e.o. Erik Engstrom described it as a “positive financial performance‚Ķ with underlying revenue growth across all four business areas”, which also comprise the company‚Äôs Risk & Business Analytics, Legal and Exhibitions divisions.