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News Corp Q1 FY2025 Earnings Call

News Corp (NWSA)

Earnings Call FY2025 Q1 Call date: 2024-11-07 Concluded

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Operator

Welcome to News Corp's First Quarter Fiscal 2025 Earnings Conference Call. Today's conference is being recorded. Media will be allowed on a listen-only basis. At this time, I'd like to turn the conference over to Michael Florin, Senior Vice President and Head of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Michael Florin Head of Investor Relations

Thank you very much, operator. Hello, everyone, and welcome to News Corp's fiscal first quarter 2025 earnings call. We issued our earnings press release about 30 minutes ago and it's now posted on our website at newscorp.com. On the call today are Robert Thomson, Chief Executive; and Susan Panuccio, Chief Financial Officer. We will open with some prepared remarks and I'll be happy to take questions from the investment community. This call may include certain forward-looking information with respect to News Corp's business and strategy. Actual results could differ materially from what is said. News Corp's Form 10-K and Form 10-Q filings identify risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ and contain cautionary statements regarding forward-looking information. Additionally, this call will include certain non-GAAP financial measurements such as total segment EBITDA, adjusted segment EBITDA and adjusted EPS. The definitions and GAAP to non-GAAP reconciliations of such measures can be found in the earnings release for the applicable periods posted on our website. With that, I'll pass over to Robert Thomson for some opening comments.

Thank you, Mike. There is no doubt we have begun fiscal 2025 robustly with record first quarter revenue and record first quarter profitability. Revenue rose 3% year-over-year to $2.58 billion, while profitability surged 14% to $415 million. Our profit margin rose from 14.6% a year ago to 16.1%, and recurring circulation and subscription revenues continued to expand, as our reliance on a sometimes volatile advertising market has declined markedly. Our net income jumped from $58 million last year to $144 million, and our EPS was $0.21 compared to $0.05 in the same quarter last year. That we have achieved these record first quarter results in macro conditions, which were far from auspicious, tells much about the successful transformation of News Corp over the past decade. Meanwhile, the just-completed election has highlighted the importance of trusted journalism in a media maelstrom in which some journalists routinely mistake virtue signaling for virtue. Artificial intelligence harvests and recycles informational inaccuracies. And so it is critical that journalist inputs have integrity, which is why our partnership with OpenAI is so crucial and why we will certainly seek to challenge AI companies misusing and abusing our trusted journalism. We have indicated in the past that we would prefer to woo rather than sue artificial intelligence companies, hence the alliance with OpenAI, but we have reached a point where litigation is also essential. Dow Jones and the New York Post have started proceedings against perplexing companies that are selling products based on our journalism, and we are diligently preparing for further action against other companies that have ingested our archives and are synthesizing our intellectual property. We hope that litigation will not be necessary, but we intend to defend vigorously our rights and our journalism. This matter is imperative for our society and for our shareholders. We are also pruning the blatant biases of ad agencies and ad associations, which we believe are boycotting certain media properties solely based on personal political prejudices. That is detrimental to companies which advertise and obviously enough to the shareholders of those companies, which are being denied the opportunity to optimize audience reach. The ad heavens are certainly not in equilibrium. As for the structure of our company, we continue to examine changes to maximize our overall value for shareholders. It is true to say we are in active discussions over the future of Foxtel. And we believe all who have studied the worth of our individual assets and our current share price can easily see that price does not reflect the collective value of our businesses. In our view, a clear gap remains, despite the approximately 38% increase in our share price over the past year. The most glaring discrepancy is how the market has assessed the value of REA in our portfolio. By the way, it is really worth highlighting the presence of Lachlan Murdoch in his early investment of less than $2 million in cash, which gave us a strategic stake that has become a 61% share in a company worth $31 billion Australian dollars based on recent trading and has created immense value for all our investors. If you need me to do the math, 61% of $31 billion Australian dollars is approximately $12.5 billion US dollars. Given that our market cap is roughly $17 billion US dollars, that means that Dow Jones, including the Wall Street Journal and the lucrative B2B businesses, plus HarperCollins, plus Realtor, plus The Times of London, and The Sun, plus our UK radio network, plus our Australian papers plus Foxtel and a few other companies are apparently perceived to be worth less than $5 billion, which we believe simply defies investing or mathematical logic. Now let's examine each sector's performance and the Company's actual value more closely. In digital real estate, we had a particularly strong quarter at REA in Australia, where listings nationally rose 7% in the quarter and have continued to increase at a healthy level through October. We expect that positive momentum will be reflected in second quarter earnings. There was a certain amount of excitement in recent weeks as REA submitted a thoroughly reasonable bid to acquire the UK market leader, Rightmove. But we applaud the REA leadership team's financial prudence, steadfastly refusing to overpay for the asset. The Rightmove Board did not engage constructively, which was disappointing, but we are absolutely confident in the potential of REA and that potential was obvious in the excellent results the Company announced today. At News Corp, we have made several important acquisitions in recent years in book publishing and in particular to expand the professional information business at Dow Jones. But these acquisitions have been sound investments at rather reasonable prices. The efficacy of that disciplined investment strategy is reflected in our buoyant earnings. In the first quarter, digital real estate revenue overall increased by 13%, while profitability rose 15%. This double-digit growth was driven by REA reaching all-time record quarterly revenue, thanks to strong listing volume and yield and continued growth at REA India. We believe REA's potential is far from fully realized as the company's expansion into financial services remains in an early but burgeoning stage and the development of premium products for agents and for families seeking to buy or sell a property continues at pace. In the US, the property market remains challenged with punitively high mortgage rates, which have had an innocuous impact on sales. But this should be a relatively temporary trend, and we fully expect a rebound as those rates decline. Listings have increased year-over-year with a more than 30% increase in active listings in September, but we are seeing particularly low sales of existing homes, which impacted lead volume. Our team is positioning the company for the rebound with product enhancements such as dynamic mapping, the bolstering of our tech stack and building the brand Halo, reflected in a 2% increase in unique users despite the softness in property sales. As with REA, Realtor.com continues to diversify, including expanded sell side and new construction offerings and a rental partnership with Zillow and revenues at each of those adjacencies expanded. At Dow Jones, which has more than doubled in profitability since re-segmentation four years ago and which had a strong fiscal 2024, our B2B data and information services businesses continued to prosper. In Q1, the professional information business expanded revenues overall by 8%, with 16% growth at Risk & Compliance and an 11% increase at Dow Jones Energy. For context, our Risk & Compliance revenues over the last five years from fiscal 2019 to fiscal 2024 have more than doubled, representing 18% annual compound growth. With global instability and increasing regulatory vigilance, there is no sentient law-abiding company that does not want to minimize risk and maximize compliance. At Dow Jones Energy, we are excited by the recent acquisition of A2i, a leader in AI-powered technology used to optimize fuel pricing strategies, which will complement Opus' pricing solutions. On the news side, total Dow Jones digital-only subscriptions grew 15%, including a 10% increase at the journal. And we expect circulation revenue growth to improve over the course of the year as we cycle through the phases of promotional pricing. As for advertising, that market remained volatile and affected overall growth rates with digital advertising down 5%. For clarity, it is worth reiterating that advertising as a share of total Dow Jones revenue has fallen from approximately 38% in 2014 to 15% in the most recent quarter. And importantly, advertising revenue at the News Media segment has fallen from approximately 35% of our total revenue a decade ago to 7% in the most recent quarter, with just over half of that figure being digital, underscoring how much we have evolved. At book publishing, HarperCollins had another splendid quarter with profitability expanding 25% and a margin lift of more than 200 basis points. Thanks to strong digital and backlist sales, including JD Vance's Hillbilly Elegy, which sold 1.5 million units across all formats during the quarter. In addition, A Death in Cornwall by Daniel Silva; The Au Pair Affair by Tessa Bailey; and the Wicked collection, which benefited from the movie tie-in, also performed well. Our Bible sales were again robust during a time of acute political uncertainty and intense global conflict. Digital revenue growth at HarperCollins of 15% was driven by the continued success of audiobook sales, which climbed 26% and renewed revenue growth in e-books, which increased 7%. Looking ahead, we anticipate that momentum will stay strong ahead of the seasonal gifting period. We also have the release in Q2 of Cher's new book, as well as The Blue Hour by Paula Hawkins, and Unleashed by Boris Johnson, the former British Prime Minister, whose puckish perceptions are compulsively compelling. As the pithy Boris once observed, the beauty and riddle in studying the motives of any politician is trying to decide what is idealism and what is self-interest. And often we are left to conclude that the answer is a mixture of the two. At subscription video services, revenue increased 3% as growth in streaming more than offset declines in linear revenues. While this quarter was impacted by Hubbl costs as is normal with any product launch, those costs have come down sequentially and we expect them to continue to fall. Foxtel's strength is reflected in its successful transition to streaming, which now accounts for nearly 70% of paid subscribers, while ARPU has continued to rise. Advertising on our streaming platforms rose over 45% and accounted for over 40% of Foxtel's advertising revenues with notable strength at Kayo, our sports streaming service. Meanwhile, broadcast churn of 11% fell 70 basis points sequentially and broadcast ARPU rose 4% on prior year to AUD89. Sports are the cornerstone of Foxtel's success with record Rugby League and Australian audiences for the just completed season and a fascinating summer sports looming. These trends drove strong free cash flow in the quarter and enabled the further repayment of shareholder loans. At news media, profitability increased 14% despite the challenging macro environment. Across our mastheads, we are starting to see the positive impact of our landmark agreement with OpenAI as well as the impact of our cost discipline. In Australia, our digital subscribers rose to 1.13 million and the New York Post digital network recorded 103 million monthly unique users in September. The re-tooling of Talk TV meant a much lower cost run rate as we focused on video and deployed the acquired skills to enhance the video offerings at the Times and the Sun. Our UK results also benefited from cost savings related to our new Print joint venture with the Daily Mail Group and a reduction of investment at The Sun US, which was bruised by sudden capricious algorithm changes. That necessary focus on costs is part of our absolute determination to sustain and invest in our journalism. Now, we come to another significant moment, a moment that is for me personally and professionally tinged with a certain sadness. Susan Panuccio, our esteemed Chief Financial Officer, is stepping down to take a time out from the hurly-burly of business to devote time to her beautiful family. Susan has played an absolutely crucial role in the transformation of News Corp over the past eight years. She is an empathetic, enlightened, energetic leader who has helped me, the Board, and her colleagues navigate a transition that has fundamentally changed the character of the Company. We have reported record results during her tenure and that is a testament to the success of her sterling efforts. Rupert and Lachlan have made very clear their genuine appreciation for Susan's contribution to the Company, and her positive influence will definitely resonate for many years to come. Susan, in her inimitable way, is irreplaceable, but we are honored to announce that our new CFO is Lavanya Chandrashekar, formerly the CFO of Diageo, the global drinks business where she worked closely with the great Ivan Menezes, the late Chief Executive of Diageo. Lavanya was previously the CFO for the North America business as well as Global Head of Investor Relations at Diageo. Prior to that, she had significant global financial leadership roles at Mondelez and Procter & Gamble. Susan will stay on in her current role through the end of the calendar year and then transition to an advisory role for six months to assist Lavanya in making the transition from bourbon to books and from gin to journalism, though it's fair to say that journalists and gin are well acquainted with each other. We salute Susan, and we welcome Lavanya.

Thank you, Robert, for your kind words and for a wonderful partnership and support over the years, which I will always cherish. It has been a pleasure to work with you. After nearly eight years in this role and over twenty years at News Corp, I am going to take some much-needed time off to spend with my family. It has been an honor to help lead News Corp's transformation into a global news and information powerhouse, and I truly believe the Company has a bright future. I am grateful for the support of Rupert, Lachlan, and our Board of Directors, and I want to thank them sincerely. Most importantly, I want to thank the talented teams at News Corp, past and present, with whom I have worked, along with my dedicated finance team, whom I will miss the most. I am committed to supporting Lavanya during the transition and will be available as a resource moving forward. Now, let’s go through the quarter. We have achieved year-over-year profitability growth for six consecutive quarters by transforming Dow Jones's earnings profile to emphasize B2B and information services, capitalizing on the increase in Australian listing volumes at REA, while reinvesting in and enhancing Realtor's product offerings. HarperCollins has revitalized with strong digital revenue growth and signed a landmark agreement with OpenAI, leveraging the value of our content across the news portfolio. This has contributed to record first-quarter revenue and profitability, backed by our digital-first strategy and focused M&A, organic reinvestments, and disciplined cost initiatives, all supported by our core pillars in digital, real estate, and book publishing. Total revenues for the first quarter reached nearly $2.6 billion, representing a 3% increase year-over-year, with total segment EBITDA reaching $415 million, up 14% year-over-year. Margins improved by 150 basis points to 16.1%. The results also include $12 million of deal-related costs at REA, which impacted total segment EBITDA growth by about 3 percentage points. Adjusted revenues rose 2% compared to the prior year, while adjusted total segment EBITDA increased by 12%. For the quarter, we reported earnings per share of $0.21, compared to $0.05 last year, and adjusted earnings per share were $0.21 this quarter versus $0.16 the previous year. Turning to individual segments, starting with Dow Jones, first-quarter results were strong, with revenues of $552 million, up 3% year-over-year, making it the largest contributor to overall company revenue. Digital revenue constituted 82% of total Dow Jones segment revenues this quarter, up 1 percentage point from last year. Our B2B products showed strong growth, with professional information business revenues rising 8% year-over-year, despite some impacts from a customer dispute at Factiva. Approximately two-thirds of the growth in PIB was driven by volume through upsells, new customers, and strong retention at nearly 90%. This quarter's revenue included 16% growth at Risk & Compliance to a record $81 million and 11% growth at Dow Jones Energy to $68 million, both impressive in context with the previous year’s comparisons. Demand for Risk & Compliance remains strong, with new and existing customers for recently launched AI-powered products. At Dow Jones Energy, revenue benefitted from new products and price adjustments, and as mentioned, there was an acquisition of A2i Systems, a leader in AI-powered fuel pricing solutions. In the Dow Jones consumer business, circulation revenues rose 1% versus last year, with digital-only subscriptions offsetting lower print volume. Digital-only subscriptions increased by 15% year-over-year, with a sequential rise of 99,000. Bundling accounted for about 31% of sequential digital-only volume growth. Print volume declined by 16% year-over-year but was partly offset by price increases. Digital circulation made up 72% of total consumer circulation revenue for the quarter. The conversion to full or step-up pricing from our digital subscriptions exceeded expectations and is expected to improve year-over-year circulation revenue growth throughout the year, particularly in the second half. Advertising revenues declined by 7% to $85 million, lower than anticipated, with digital down 5% due to softness in technology and finance categories and reduced programmatic sales. Digital accounted for 67% of advertising revenues, up from 66% last year, while overall advertising revenues represented 15% of Dow Jones' total revenue. Dow Jones segment EBITDA for the quarter grew 6% to $131 million, with costs up only 2%, leading to a margin increase to 23.7%. B2B contributed most of the profitability. In the digital real estate segment, revenues were $457 million, up 13% versus the prior year, and 11% on an adjusted basis. Segment EBITDA was $140 million, a 15% increase driven by higher contributions from the REA Group, which included deal-related costs for a proposed Rightmove transaction that was later withdrawn. Adjusted segment EBITDA grew 13%. REA had a robust quarter with revenues increasing 22% year-on-year to $318 million. Growth was driven by residential yield increases, strong national listings, and upgrades in customer contracts. Residential yield growth improved by 15%, and new buy listings rose about 7%, reaching a 10-year high in both Sydney and Melbourne. Realtor's revenues for the quarter were $140 million, down 1% compared to last year, with real estate revenues falling 4% due to lower referral and lead generation revenues. Lead volume decreased by 1%, while average monthly unique users rose 2% year-over-year to 77 million, maintaining strong audience share despite increased competition. Realtor.com is focused on diversifying revenues to capture more of the total real estate marketplace, and we anticipate continued strong growth in key adjacencies. At Book Publishing, momentum continued with revenues of $546 million, up 4%, and segment EBITDA improved 25% to $81 million. Margins expanded by over 200 basis points to 14.8%, aided by strong digital and backlist performance. We benefited from lower returns and moderated operating costs, alongside robust Bible sales and increased trade sales in the UK. HarperCollins achieved record digital revenues of $129 million, a 15% increase from last year, driven by growing audiobook sales and the addition of Spotify. Digital sales accounted for 25% of consumer revenues compared to 22% the previous year. In subscription video services, revenues were $501 million, up 3%, while adjusted revenues rose 1%. Streaming revenues made up 34% of circulation and subscription revenues compared to 30% in the prior year. Segment EBITDA was $92 million, a slight decrease compared to last year. Adjusted segment EBITDA fell 3%. In News Media, performance was mixed, with challenging advertising conditions particularly in the UK, offset by lower costs. Advertising revenues now account for only 7% of total Company-wide revenue, with quarterly revenues of $521 million, down 5%. Segment EBITDA showed improvement year-over-year, driven by cost-saving initiatives. Looking ahead, market trends are mixed, but we hope for continued improvements across our portfolio. At Dow Jones, we will focus on B2B growth and expect improved circulation revenue growth through digital subscription pricing adjustments. At digital real estate, we anticipate revenue improvements from expected interest rate cuts and continued adjacency growth. In book publishing, we expect further profit improvements in 2025. The strategy in subscription video services will remain to scale streaming products while retaining valuable broadcast customers, and we expect Hubbl investment rates to decrease. Despite a challenging advertising market, News Media is expected to benefit from lower costs and operational efficiencies, although other segment costs are anticipated to be higher this year due to ongoing AI-related expenses.

Michael Florin Head of Investor Relations

With that, let me hand it over to the operator for Q&A.

Operator

Our first question comes from Alan Gould from Loop Capital. Please unmute yourself to ask your question.

Speaker 4

Thanks for taking the question. I've got a general question on OpenAI. So I see Dow Jones, you have content licensing revenue in there. Can you give us some sense on how much AI revenue came in during the quarter? How was it split between Dow Jones and the news media segment? And what are the possibilities for getting some AI revenue for the HarperCollins division? Thank you.

Well, thanks for the question. We can't be more specific than we already have been about the distribution of AI revenues, particularly from the OpenAI deal, but you will see it having an impact in the news media section. There's no doubt about that as in subsequent quarters. And it is also a part now of the revenue and profit profile of Dow Jones. But other than that, I'm not at liberty to say anything more given confidentiality requirements.

I think, Alan, the only thing I could add to that is, I know we've had some questions in the past about measures done in Australia and the impact of that. And I think all we can say is collectively across all our agreements that we would expect to see a positive year-on-year movement in relation to revenue.

Thank you. Alan. Luke, we'll take our next question, please.

Operator

Our next question comes from the line of David Karnovsky from JPMorgan. Please unmute yourself to ask your question.

Speaker 5

Hey, thank you for the question. Robert, I think you noted an expectation for Dow Jones consumer circulation growth to improve from here as you cycle past promotional periods. Can you dig in here a little bit, provide any color around that process? What gives you confidence you can bring those promo subs into higher paying tiers? And then as we look out over the medium-term, what should we consider possible in terms of a normalized growth rate for that circulation line? Thank you.

David, thanks for the question. Obviously, for legal reasons, my powers of prognostication are somewhat limited. But I think you can see that overall circulation at Dow Jones rose 11% to 5.9 million subs, while digital-only rose 15% to 5.3 million. Now, Almar and the team have been very confident that with the phasing of discounts and subsequent price movements, we would see positive movements in digital circulation revenue. And that is evidenced now with the 4% increase in digital circulation revenue on the same quarter last year. Now obviously, there was a little softness in print, which affected total circulation revenue, but the team confidently expects the positive digital trajectory to continue in this quarter as engagement and retention rates improve.

And, David, we would expect the rate of increase in revenue for digital to rise at Dow Jones and be more significant in the second half of the year as those phase customers increase their activity.

Thank you, Dave. Luke, we'll take our next question, please.

Operator

Our next question comes from the line of Kane Hannan with Goldman Sachs. Please unmute and ask your question.

Speaker 6

Good morning, guys. And, Susan, thanks for your help over the years and best of luck to the future. Maybe just the book's margin this quarter. Just talk about sort of the sustainability of that? I mean, how much of that 250 basis points expansion is the title performance and the back book contribution just maybe more of the digital contribution sort of underlying efficiencies that are more sustainable?

Kane, you're quite right. We obviously had a strong quarter at HarperCollins, but it's fair to say that momentum has carried across to the current quarter. Whichever way you look at the numbers, HarperCollins is performing well. Our margin improved to 14.8% from 12% in the same quarter last year. And as we've already said, the reported EBITDA growth was 25%. Now significantly, our digital sales rose 15% with audio surging 26%. And also significantly, e-books, which had been somewhat soft, rose a solid 7% after a period of relative sluggishness. There's no reason to suggest that those trends will suddenly wane.

Michael Florin Head of Investor Relations

Thank you, Kane. Luke, we'll take our next question, please.

Operator

Our next question comes from the line of Entcho Raykovski with Evans and Partners. Please unmute your line to ask a question.

Speaker 7

Hi, Robert. Hi, Susan. Before I ask my questions, Susan, all the best for life after News Corp. So my question is really two-fold. Firstly, looking at advertising at Dow Jones, it has suffered and it's underperformed some peers. I mean, you obviously acknowledged some of the weakness and I get that it's a smaller part of the segment, but are there any business-specific issues or factors which are causing this and what is your thinking around when we might see a recovery? Secondly, the Foxtel shareholder loans, I think I can probably say that there has been a more recent repayment. Are you able to give us an indication of where they sit now post that repayment, and apologies if I missed this. Thank you.

Entcho, I think during an election period, certain companies are a little bit apprehensive about advertising. So we have seen some softness in finance and tech at Dow Jones. But overall, we do bear in mind that news media advertising is itself only 7% of total revenue, and more than half of that is now digital revenue. When you look at Dow Jones in particular, there was a fall in digital revenue, digital advertising revenue and a slightly larger fall in print advertising. But candidly, in the current quarter, we are expecting an increase in digital advertising revenue at Dow Jones and frankly across our news media properties, including the New York Post, UK Mastheads, and Australia.

Entcho, thanks for your kind words. And just in relation to the Foxtel loan, it is in the filings, and the balance now sits at AUD545 million.

Michael Florin Head of Investor Relations

Thanks, Entcho. Luke, we'll take our next question, please.

Operator

Our next question comes from the line of Craig Huber with Huber Research. Please unmute to ask your question.

Speaker 8

Hi there. Thank you very much for all your help over the years, Susan, and best of luck to you after News Corp. You've done a great job. Robert, I'm curious about the situation—it's been a year since you announced your company is looking to optimize structures and went through the Board of Directors. You made public announcements, and now we are sitting here 12 months later. When should investors expect something significant to happen? It's been a full year, and I wonder if the delay is related to the Murdoch family issue going through the court system. I find it hard to believe that after an announcement, nothing has happened for a year unless something unexpected has occurred. Can you help us understand the reason for the delay?

Craig, I think you'd have to admit it's been a rather dynamic quarter with the REA team bidding to acquire Rightmove. And as mentioned, we're in active discussions over Foxtel, and active means active. But there's no doubt that does not remove the disparity between the inherent value of our assets and the values reflected in the share price. I did the math in the earlier statement, and only the ill-informed would not appreciate that discrepancy, but there are quite a few moving parts, whether the continuing express growth at the Dow Jones professional information and the cyclical slump in the US housing market, which obviously affects Realtor and the value of our property portfolio and the Foxtel discussion. So without being sector-specific, we are indeed looking to maximize value. I believe that our current value at the moment is not fully represented in the share price, even with the 40% increase in that share price over the past year.

Michael Florin Head of Investor Relations

Thank you, Craig. Luke, we'll take our next question, please.

Operator

Our next question comes from Lucy Huang with UBS. Please go ahead and ask your question.

Speaker 9

Hi, Robert, Susan. Thanks for taking questions. I've just got one on professional information services. So within Dow Jones, growth is kind of up 8% in the quarter for this business. How should we be thinking about the new rate of growth moving forward? Because I guess last year this business was growing in the low to mid-teens? And do you think some of the new AI and data products that you've released can accelerate growth back into that mid-teens level over the next couple of months?

Lucy, as you can see, Risk & Compliance revenues are still continuing their express growth at around 16% year-on-year, and there was another 11% expansion at Dow Jones Energy. And what you're seeing in that seeming softer growth is the impact of the dispute at Factiva, where there was a decline year-on-year, dragging down the overall revenue increase. Two things there. One, we hope the dispute will be resolved, and secondly, the team is working diligently to enhance the user experience at Factiva. We have just announced a search deal with Google, which should improve customers' ability to both retrieve and deploy valuable intelligence. And without being specific about margins, overall, PIB accounted for 40% of total revenue and well over 50% of Dow Jones profits.

And, Lucy, just to follow up on Robert's comments, the underlying growth rates within Risk & Compliance and Energy are actually very healthy, as Robert said. That Factiva dispute has impacted the numbers by about 6% this quarter. And so actually, if you added that backlog, you'd be up at the rate that you were sort of expecting. And as Robert said, we'll see how that dispute plays out, but that certainly had the impact in Q1.

Michael Florin Head of Investor Relations

Thank you, Lucy. Luke, we'll take our next question, please.

Operator

At this time, we have no further questions. I'll now hand it over to Michael Florin for closing remarks.

Michael Florin Head of Investor Relations

Well, thank you, Luke, and thank you all for participating. Look forward to talking to you again soon. Have a wonderful day.