Wolters Kluwer: sees another year of 'solid' organic growth

(CercleFinance.com) - Wolters Kluwer, Europe's biggest legal and tax publisher, said on Wednesday that it expects to deliver "another year of solid organic growth" in 2020, particularly driven by stronger demand for accounting products.


The company said that it expects mid- to high single-digit growth in diluted adjusted EPS this year, with an adjusted operating profit margin of between 23.5% and 24%.

Its revenues rose by 5% to 4.6 billion euros last year, up 4% organically. Recurring revenues - which represent about 78% of total revenues - rose by 5% in organic terms.

Meanwhile, its adjusted operating profit rose to 1.1 billion euros, up 5% at constant currencies, while adjusted operating profit margin increased by 50 basis-points to 23.6%, the group said.

The publisher announced its intention to spend up to 350 million euros on share repurchases in 2020, with 50 million euros of this already complete.

It will also propose a 2019 total dividend of 1.18 euro per share, up 20%.

Kluwer shares were up 2.4% at 69 euros in mid-morning trading, significantly outperforming the STOXX Europe 600 Optimised Media index, which was down 1.4%.

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