Earnings Call Transcript - RELX Q2 2021

Erik Engstrom, CEO

Good morning, everybody. Thank you for taking time to join us on our call today. As you may have seen from our press release this morning, we delivered a strong first half with underlying growth trends across all market segments returning to the improving trajectory that we saw in the early part of 2020. We made good operational and strategic progress, investing behind our strategic priorities to drive organic growth through the development of analytics and decision tools across segments with recent acquisitions performing well. We also continued to build on our strong ESG performance, making good progress on many of our internal metrics and maintaining or improving our key external ratings. In the first half, revenue growth at constant currencies was 4%. Adjusted operating profit growth was 11%. Adjusted earnings per share growth was 10%, and we had announced an increase in the pound sterling interim dividend of 5%. Our three largest business areas all delivered improved underlying revenue growth in the first half. So let's look at the results of each business area. In Risk, underlying revenue growth was 10%. Underlying adjusted operating profit growth was 12%. Transactional revenue, which represents around 60% of the divisional total, grew in the double digits in the first half. Volumes in most segments continue to develop strongly against both the disrupted first half of 2020 and the first half of 2019. Subscription revenue, which represents around 40% of the divisional total and was last year's disruption, was more second half weighted, has seen a more recent return to historical growth rates driven by strong new sales across markets. Business Services represents nearly 45% of divisional revenue, double-digit revenue growth was driven by strong demand across almost all market segments. In fraud and identity, our leading digital identity solutions performed particularly well, with both ThreatMetrix and Emailage continuing to see growth of around 30%. In Financial Crime and Compliance, last year's alignment of acuity within Business Services has significantly strengthened our customer proposition through the sharing of technology platforms and data and will enable an accelerated rollout of new decision tools. In insurance, representing nearly 40% of the divisional total, strong revenue growth was driven by the continued rollout of enhanced analytics and expansion in adjacent verticals. Our customer markets have seen a recovery since the disruption in March and April of last year. U.S. auto insurance shopping growth fluctuates somewhat, but overall for the first half was in line with recent years. U.S. driving activity has continued to recover and is currently over 95% of 2019 levels, up from a low point of around 50% in April of last year. The claims volumes are following a similar trajectory. In adjacent verticals, we've seen strong growth in home and life insurance as customers seek alternative data sources and automation of the application and data writing processes. In Data Services, which represents just over 10% of divisional revenue, we saw continued strong growth in petrochemicals and agriculture whilst other segments such as aviation are now in the early stages of recovery. In the government, representing around 5% of divisional revenue, strong growth was driven by the continued expansion and rollout of analytics and decision tools across both state and local and federal markets. Going forward, we expect underlying revenue growth slightly above historical trends, with underlying adjusted operating profit growth broadly matching underlying revenue growth. In STM, we saw underlying revenue growth of 4%, driven by continued good growth in electronic revenue, which represented 88% of the total. Print revenue, representing 12% of the total, stabilized following particularly steep declines in the first half of last year. In primary research, the number of articles submitted to our journals remains at last year's elevated levels, and strong growth in the number of articles published drove market share gains in both subscription and open access payment models. As you know, we're always very happy to serve our customers with whatever payment model they prefer, and our aim is to help them achieve their objectives in a way that gives them higher quality and better effective value from us than they can get from other major providers. Our relative quality advantage in each subsegment has been consistently maintained or increased, and growth in article usage has remained strong on all key measures. So far this year, we have launched another 55 author pays open access titles, bringing our open access journal count to over 560 and our subscription renewal completion rates and new sales are in line with historical trends. Databases and tools and electronic reference, which represents over one-third of divisional revenue, saw strong growth in medical education, clinical solutions, and electronic reference. This was driven by increased adoption of digital tools, including advanced simulation training, continued geographical rollout of clinical key, and strong growth in evidence-based decision support tools, including clinical path. Print books, which now represent a little over 5% of divisional revenue in the first half, stabilized after last year's unusually steep first half declines. Going forward, we expect underlying revenue growth slightly above historical trends with underlying adjusted operating profit growth slightly exceeding underlying revenue growth. In Legal, underlying revenue growth was 3% with underlying adjusted operating profit growth ahead of revenue growth at 6%, reflecting further process innovation. Electronic revenue, representing 88% of the divisional total, has continued to grow well and print revenue declines moderated following unusually steep declines in the first half of last year. North America, which accounts for around two-thirds of divisional revenue, growth across all key market segments was driven by the development and rollout of legal analytics and new integrated functionality. Last September, we launched Lexis+ using machine learning and natural language processing to unite multiple legal research and analytics functions delivered through a modernized user interface. We've seen positive uptake across all customer segments with almost all new customers and the majority of renewing customers opting for Lexis+. Trends in our major customer markets are stable with renewal rates holding up well and new sales currently running ahead of recent years. Going forward, we expect underlying revenue growth in line with or slightly above historical trends with underlying adjusted operating profit growth exceeding underlying revenue growth. Exhibitions revenue declined 36% in constant currencies for the first half as a whole. That has been running ahead of last year since April. Statistical events that we were able to hold in the first half have mostly been in China and Japan and more recently in the U.S. and elsewhere. We are generally being well received by both exhibitors and attendees and have all been supported by digital initiatives. Nick will take you through the details of Exhibitions revenues and costs in a few minutes. Going forward, the revenue outcome for the full year will depend on the pace and sequence of reopening. The operating results will benefit from a significantly lower cost structure than in the prior year. Our operational and strategic priorities, which are the drivers of our improved performance, are unchanged. In the first half, we continue to make good progress across market segments on our number one strategic priority. The organic development of increasingly sophisticated analytics and decision tools delivers enhanced value to our customers and helps them make better decisions, get better results, and be more productive. Our organic growth strategy is supported by targeted acquisitions. In the first half, we made five small acquisitions, and recent acquisitions continued to perform well. We remain committed to our corporate responsibilities, drawing on the unique contributions that we're able to make as a business. And in the first half, we saw further improvement in our internal metrics and the external recognition of our efforts. With that, I will now hand over to Nick Luff, our CFO, who will talk you through our results in more detail. I will be back afterwards for a quick wrap-up and our usual Q&A.

Nick Luff, CFO

Thank you, Erik. Good morning, everyone. Let me start by providing more detail on the group financials. Revenue growth for the period was 4% at constant currency, reflecting the strong performance of Risk, STM, and Legal. Adjusted operating profit growth was 11% at constant currency, with all four business areas showing improved results. The adjusted operating margin improved to 30.1%. The improved profit performance flowed through to adjusted earnings per share, which were up 10% at constant currency. Cash conversion was strong at 112%, contributing to a significant reduction in leverage to 2.8x including leases and pensions, down from 3.3x at the end of 2020. Given the strong overall performance, we've been able to increase the interim dividend by 5% to 14.3p. Looking at revenue, underlying growth trends in our three largest business areas returned to the improving trajectory that we saw in the early part of 2020, with Risk at 10%, STM at 4%, and Legal at 3%. Given the extent of event rescheduling during the year, underlying measures are not meaningful for Exhibitions for the first half and hence not for the group as a whole. Portfolio changes were a small net positive for Risk. But within the rounding, a small positive for STM and a small negative for Legal. We generate the majority of our revenues in dollars, of course. And with sterling stronger on average against the dollar as well as the euro compared with the first half of last year, currency movements were a drag on the sterling reported growth rate of between 4% and 8%, with group revenue down 3% in sterling. On adjusted operating profit, Risk and Legal delivered underlying growth slightly ahead of underlying revenue growth with some benefit from the phasing of expenses. For STM, adjusted operating profit growth was in line with revenue growth. Portfolio effects on adjusted operating profit were broadly neutral in the three largest business areas. Exhibitions improved its operating results despite lower revenue, with an adjusted loss of £48 million compared to £66 million in the prior first half. You will recall that in 2020, we incurred exceptional costs in Exhibitions, with £51 million falling in the first half, mostly relating to canceled events. The first half 2020 comparative figures shown here excludes those exceptional costs. There were no exceptional costs in the first half of this year. Including that improved results from Exhibitions, at constant currency, group adjusted operating profit was up 11%. Currency movements were a drag on profit growth, similar to the drag on revenue. The group adjusted operating profit was still up by 3% to just over £1 billion. The three largest business areas each saw an increase in margins, the largest being in Legal, which continued to benefit from process innovation and tight control of costs. With the reduced loss in exhibitions, overall, adjusted operating margins for the group improved by 1.8 percentage points to 30.1%. Looking at exhibitions in a bit more detail. Revenues were, of course, down on the prior half year. But as Erik mentioned, they have been running ahead of last year since April. We have been able to operate the business with a significantly lower cost base, as shown by the comparison with the H1 2019 figures shown on the slide. Direct costs were down, of course, reflecting the event program that we were able to run in the first half. On indirect costs, you will recall that historically, those run around £400 million per annum, and we were targeting a reduction of around 25% on an ongoing basis. We achieved that and actually ran a little better than the target level in the first half, with some benefit from the phasing of costs within the year. The first half result also benefited from an increased contribution from joint ventures, mainly in China, where we're able to operate largely as normal. So overall, despite the lower revenue, the operating loss was reduced. Looking into the second half. In July, we've run events in the U.S., Japan, China, and a couple of other countries. Those events will enable us to deliver revenue for the month of close to £50 million and a positive operating result consistent with the roughly breakeven position we've been running at since April. We continue to be flexible with the program for the remainder of the year, ready to hold face-to-face events as and when countries and venues open up. Going back to the group numbers. Here is the adjusted income statement, showing the constant currency growth of 4% in revenue and 11% in operating profit. That operating profit growth of 11% flows through to growth in profit before tax of 13%, aided by a lower interest charge. The interest expense benefited from lower average net borrowings and lower average interest rates compared to the prior period. The effective interest rate on gross debt was 2.1%. The tax charge was £185 million, with an effective tax rate of 19.4%. Both the first half of 2021 and the first half of 2020 benefited from nonrecurring tax credits, which resulted in effective rates below our normal ongoing rate, albeit to a lesser extent in the first half of this year, hence the increase in the effective rate. Net profit was £771 million, up 10% at constant currency. At 40p, adjusted earnings per share was also up 10% at constant currency and up 2% at reported exchange rates, reflecting the relative strength of sterling compared to the prior first half. This next slide shows you how we reconcile from adjusted to reported profits. The biggest change in the reconciliation is that last year, we had the exceptional charges in Exhibitions. As I mentioned, £51 million of those exceptional costs were incurred in the first half of 2020 with no exceptional costs in this year's first half. Also, amortization of acquired intangibles was lower at £142 million, and there was a larger net gain on disposals of £39 million, mainly relating to the venture portfolio. Overall, reported profit before tax was worth £825 million, up 24% with net profit of £664 million, up 21% and reported EPS of 34.5p, also up 21%. Turning to cash flow. Group CapEx was £150 million, equivalent to 4.4% of revenue. Cash conversion was strong at 112%, benefiting from some phasing, including the timing of CapEx spend and working capital movements. Cash interest paid was £72 million, in line with the income statement charge, the higher amount in the prior period related to the cash element of the charge of a redemption of some long-term bonds in the first half of 2020. Cash tax paid of £142 million was lower than the prior year, with the new U.K. tax installment regime resulting in one-off higher payments in the prior period. This year's cash taxes benefited from some favorable timing of payments, which will reverse in the second half. For the full year, we expect cash tax to be broadly aligned with the adjusted tax charge. After some Exhibitions exceptional costs incurred in 2020 but paid in 2021, and lower acquisition-related items, total free cash flow was up by over £300 million on the prior year to £886 million. And here's how we use that free cash flow. We had limited acquisition spend in the first half with total consideration of £46 million relating to five small transactions. You will recall the mark-to-market gain we booked on the Palantir state helped our venture fund in 2020. We have now sold that state, which makes up almost all of the disposal proceeds of £175 million in the first half. Total dividend payments were £634 million during last year's final dividend. Through a combination of strong operational cash generation, net M&A proceeds and the currency translation benefit, net debt has come down by almost £600 million in the first half to £6.3 billion. Leverage also benefited from the improvement in operating profit, which flowed through to EBITDA. Including leases and pensions, the ratio of net debt to EBITDA, calculated in U.S. dollars, fell to 2.8x, down from 3.3x at year-end but still above our historical range of 2.1 to 2.5x. With that, I will hand you back to Erik.

Erik Engstrom, CEO

Thank you, Nick. Just to summarize what we covered this morning. We delivered a strong first half with underlying growth trends across almost all market segments returning to the improving trajectory that we saw in the early part of 2020, and we continue to invest behind our strategic priorities. Going forward, based on the improved performance in Risk, STM, and Legal in the first half, we expect full year underlying growth rates in revenue and adjusted operating profit as well as constant currency growth and adjusted earnings per share to be slightly above historical trends. And with that, I think we're ready to go to questions.

Operator, Operator

Our first question is from Adam Berlin from UBS. Please ask your question.

Adam Berlin, Analyst

Adam Berlin from UBS. I have three questions. First, regarding RBA, I’d like to know if we’re seeing a quarter-on-quarter improvement in revenues starting from Q3 last year, and whether you expect this trend to continue into Q3 and Q4 of this year. Or is the strong organic growth simply a result of easier comparisons? My second question is about Exhibitions. For the shows that took place in July and generated £50 million, are those revenues in line with 2019, or are they still significantly lower? Can you provide insight on the gap compared to normalized revenue performance for those July shows? Finally, concerning STM, there have been reports that you sold some publications in Elsevier to Mark Allen Group. Can you clarify if this is material? Will it impact STM’s revenues in the second half? Also, was this impact excluded from the underlying revenues reported for STM in the first half?

Erik Engstrom, CEO

I will hand the second question to Nick after addressing the first and third. Regarding risk, we have seen an improvement in transactions that started coming through in the second half of last year and continued to strengthen. However, we also experienced a negative impact from subscriptions later in the year. The results are due to the balance of these two factors. Quarter-on-quarter, Nick will provide more specifics later, but the issue isn't about the quarter itself; it's about what we are comparing to last year, where the first quarter remained largely unaffected until late March, while the second quarter saw significant disruption in transactions. In the fourth quarter, we experienced some impact related to subscriptions. The subscriptions that were affected earlier this year are now coming back at the beginning of the second half or towards the end of the first half. Thus, it’s a balance of these elements. Last year, the growth rate in the second half was not markedly higher than in the first half. Concerning STM, the sale we made this year was very small and immaterial related to STM, specifically some of the commercially corporate-oriented publications in the Magdalene sector, which can be considered immaterial in any analysis.

Nick Luff, CFO

Yes. On the Exhibitions and July shows, there is quite a range of outcomes in terms of performance compared to previous additions. Some are actually up, while others are down significantly, and we've been observing this throughout the year. China generally performs well, and many events are above previous additions; however, some are below, depending on their international presence and other markets. There are various dynamics at play. For certain events, we've altered the city and the timing, which makes direct comparisons difficult. Nonetheless, we believe it was important to hold these events and provide the best service we could to our customers. Thus, there is a wide range of results. I don’t think you can draw any conclusions about future performance, as it largely depends on the specific circumstances of each event, the city, and any associated restrictions or capacity limits. So, there is a considerable range.

Adam Berlin, Analyst

Nick, can I follow up on two other questions quickly? Regarding risk, are we seeing quarter-on-quarter improvements in absolute revenue in dollars? And about Exhibitions, how dependent are you on a return to international travel to get revenues back to 2019 levels?

Nick Luff, CFO

Yes, the revenues are improving. The subscription segment had a different trend last year; it performed better in the beginning but was then affected and has taken longer to recover. The transactional side, as Erik mentioned, is influenced by the level of disruption in the previous period. Overall, we are continuing to grow, with strong new sales and positive momentum. Regarding Exhibitions, the events in China and the U.S. tend to attract more domestic audiences. International events, especially those with a significant international aspect, are more challenging. The future will depend on how restrictions are eased and the travel limitations in place. It's too soon to draw definitive conclusions from the recent shows we've held, particularly since many in the U.S. are just starting to reopen. Most of our audience remains domestic across our entire portfolio, and while we would prefer easier international travel for some important shows, it is less critical for others.

Nick Dempsey, Analyst

I've got three. So first one, in both Legal and STM divisions, we've got print shrinking pretty fast in the mix, and you've seen analytics style offerings. Your comment is pretty positive about those in the first half. But when we look forward beyond 2021, does that give you a bit of confidence that you might start to see slightly better organic revenue growth in those two divisions than you saw in 2011 to 2019? Second question, you mentioned ThreatMetrix and I think Emailage holding 30% organic revenue growth, but still maintaining very strong growth there. They must be getting a little bit larger in the mix. Aren't they at a level where, if they maintain that strong growth, they can actually move the needle on the whole of risk? And you could see that move up a bit. Or are they still too small to have much of an effect? And third question, so you mentioned the £50 million of revenue for Exhibitions in July. Can you give us a bit of context in terms of your slate of planned events for the second half, how important July is? So is it a big month in China and Japan? I think September through November are normally quite a big month for you, but I'd be interested to see some context on that £50 million.

Erik Engstrom, CEO

I will let Nick address the third question again, but I will take the other two. You are correct in pointing out that there has historically been a print drag in Legal and STM. In the first half of the year, this print drag was typically around 10 percent of the business decline in STM, averaging an 80 percentage point print drag that was absent this year due to stabilization. In Legal, the difference was much smaller this year, providing a slight benefit. The key factor driving the improvement in growth rates for Legal and STM is the ongoing development and introduction of advanced analytics and decision tools that enhance value for our customers. We began to see evidence of this in early 2020, which we mentioned at the start of last year, but the onset of the COVID pandemic disrupted many of our markets. Now, it appears we are returning to an upward trend in electronic reference and decision tools. While print drag influences the growth rate over any six-month period, it is gradually diminishing, and although it remains a bit volatile, it is expected to decrease over time. Our goal in each segment is to accelerate or enhance the underlying long-term growth rate. Regarding the second question about Risk, we specifically mentioned that our digital identity tools are experiencing about 30 percent organic growth. These tools have significantly increased in size, roughly 30 percent larger than a year ago, and are performing well, maintaining that growth rate. However, as they grow larger, the organic growth rate percentage may begin to ease slightly, even though strong growth will continue. These tools are well-positioned in the market, leading their segments in growth. However, it is reasonable to anticipate a gradual slowdown in the growth rate as they expand. Nonetheless, they will positively impact the overall growth rate of Risk. We highlight them because both internal acquisitions and organically developed tools in the digital identity space are also performing well, and we intend to keep developing more tools like these.

Nick Luff, CFO

Yes. Nick, on the tone of Exhibitions, yes, I think July is normally a key month in the year for Exhibitions, given the sort of pattern of vacations and the like. But this year, it's certainly been our most active month. If you look forward, the exhibition industry, August is generally quiet. As you say, September to November typically picks up again and that would be the busy period. So we clearly have a lot of events scheduled, but we'll have to see how markets open up and which ones we're able to run. And at the moment, it's the U.S., China, Japan, and a few other countries, and we'll see whether we have the opportunity to run events elsewhere in the world.

Sami Kassab, Analyst

I have two quick questions as well. The first one, we've seen your free cash flow up by £300 million. We've seen your leverage come down by half a turn. We've seen operations normalizing. So what other key criteria are you looking for in order to resume the share buyback program? Secondly, can you talk about the adoption of Lexis+? And to what extent is the improvement in new sales directly related to the rollout of Lexis+? And lastly, I think in February, you suggested that you were planning on running 75% of the shows that you had at Rx in 2019. Can you update us on that number? Are you still looking to run 75% of the shows or a smaller number?

Nick Luff, CFO

Yes, Sami, regarding the share buyback, as you know, that’s our method for returning excess capital to shareholders. Given the increase in leverage due to last year's decrease in EBITDA, we didn't have excess capital, which is why the buyback was paused and we indicated we wouldn’t resume it in 2021. However, as you mentioned, leverage has decreased. While it's still above our historical range, it has dropped significantly. We'll need to monitor its evolution moving forward. This year, how the business performs and potential acquisition spending are likely the most significant factors. We will evaluate the situation for next year accordingly. Currently, leverage remains somewhat elevated, which is our focus. As for the number of events and exhibitions, I don’t believe we stated we expected to run 75%. We mentioned that number was on the calendar to clarify. However, those events won't occur if they're not scheduled. The current number is lower, as we've been rescheduling and moving events later in the year, but not all of them. There’s still capacity in the industry calendar to hold them all. In terms of numbers, it’s considerably lower now. Nevertheless, as we indicated, our focus is on the markets where we can currently operate and looking ahead to when other markets might open and what possibilities we have. There are still numerous events scheduled, but the critical factor is our ability to operate in different countries, and we will see how that progresses.

Erik Engstrom, CEO

I will pass it over to Nick to address the first question about cash flow, and you can also discuss the question regarding Exhibitions. I will return to answer the second question.

Nick Luff, CFO

Yes, Sami, on the share buyback, I mean, as you know, that's our mechanism for returning surplus capital to shareholders. Clearly, with the leverage having stepped up due to the reduction in the EBITDA that we had last year, we didn't have that surplus capital. Hence, the buyback was suspended, and we said we won't resume it in 2021. But as you pointed out, the leverage has come down. It's still above our historic range, but it's come down quite quickly. So we'll have to see how that evolves from here. Clearly, the rest of this year, exactly how the business performs and what acquisition spend we might have are probably the biggest variables. But we'll see and then we'll make a judgment for next year around that. But at the moment, obviously, leverage is still a little bit elevated focus on that.

Erik Engstrom, CEO

And on Legal, Lexis+, as you know, was launched last year. It's been very well received by our customers. We continue to roll it out. And almost all new customers up for Lexis+. And I would say that when we have renewal conversations, the majority of our customers who renew also up for Lexis+. And as we've said, that's an integrated offering that integrates different types of analytical tools on different content. And when customers opt for that, they often use it so that they have increased access to and more usage of these different tools that are now integrated in a more easy-to-use way.

Sami Kassab, Analyst

May I follow up with two quick ones on Lexis+? When you see new customers opting for Lexis+, do you see new customers moving away from other established research platforms? Or are you gaining share with Lexis+ in your view? And secondly, when you see existing customers opt for Lexis+, do you see an increase in the ARPU of these customers?

Erik Engstrom, CEO

Yes. When it comes to share of customers in the legal market, it's often more complicated than a straight share question because most of the large customers, most of our large law firm customers as well as corporate customers use us as well as other providers. And it's often a question for which purposes they use them and how much they use them. So it is not as central sort of are we taking or losing customers. That's often a small part of it. We believe that we are getting increased attention and increased usage and that our customers see increased utility and value from us. And I think that's the main driver.

Patrick Wellington, Analyst

Three questions. First, we've discussed market share gains in STM. Do you think this is a result of your increased focus on reading published deals and open access? You're clearly gaining share in open access and also mentioning subscription. What do you attribute this share gain to? Does this apply to your database businesses as well? For instance, companies like Clarivate have set high single-digit growth targets for their databases and tools business. Do you have similar aspirations? That addresses my first question regarding STM. My second question concerns the percentage of revenues in STM and Legal that now come from decision tools and analytics activities. You may have partially answered this in Matthew's question, but it was unclear. And my third question revolves around exhibitions, which has three parts. Firstly, I'm sure Nick provided us with the expected profit number for the year, but the line seemed to cut out briefly. Could you repeat that for us?

Nick Luff, CFO

Yes. So the profit forecast for Exhibitions is we don't actually know this year and how we will complete. We have a good mix of events scheduled, but it will depend on whether markets open up and course restrictions vary.

Erik Engstrom, CEO

On the second question in STM, we still have significant quality journals in the portfolio and customers' feedback is good. I continue to believe that we effectively compete and continue to take share as we've historically done. The last question, we aren't making formal forecasts here for specific revenues or profits either. It remains contingent on the ongoing dynamics of the exhibitions market.

Rajesh Kumar, Analyst

Regarding the growth in the first half, could you confirm that the increase in transactions is not due to deferred revenue from the second half of last year shifting to this year’s first half? Specifically, in STM, Risk, and Legal, is the growth observed in Q2 independent of any significant surge in active demand from 2020? My second question pertains to the Exhibition side. When you communicate with your division leaders, what insights are they sharing about future bookings and interest from participants for 2021? Are the discussions reflecting the same level of engagement as at the end of 2020, or is it still too early to assess? Regarding your earlier comment on ThreatMetrix, you mentioned that growth is likely to slow given the base growth—are you suggesting that dollar growth will decrease, or will it remain steady while showing lower percentage growth against a larger base?

Erik Engstrom, CEO

We do not believe that there's any delayed revenue or backlog that artificially inflated the first half of 2021 in any material way or in any specific segment. That's not something we have noticed. So we believe that the revenue growth is what it is and represented in the first half. When it comes to ThreatMetrix, I do not believe in any way that the dollar revenue growth will slow. The only reason I'm saying that the percentage point growth might fade somewhat over time is that even though it's a fast-growing segment, it's a very attractive segment. We have a very clear leading position, and we're doing very well as a business gets bigger and bigger and bigger. The very high percentage points growth are naturally going to be more and more difficult to sustain on a percentage point basis. We do not believe in any way that the dollar growth should slow. It's not the direction of travel that we hope that we'll be on.

Nick Luff, CFO

We are observing a strong interest in in-person events. Customers are generally eager to see these events take place when possible, and they have been working well for them. However, uncertainty remains a challenge for clients when it comes to making bookings and knowing if the event will occur. Depending on the industry, preparation times for events can vary, which can impact customers. Overall, there is a significant interest, and the main factor is whether we can proceed with the event based on the specific restrictions in that area.

Erik Engstrom, CEO

Well, thank you all for joining us on our call today, and I look forward to talking to you again soon. Thank you.

Operator, Operator

Thank you, speakers. That does conclude our conference for today. Thank you all for participating. You may now disconnect. Speakers, please stand by.