Alphen aan den Rijn, November 5, 2025, Wolters Kluwer, a global leader in professional information solutions, software and services, today releases its scheduled 2025 nine-month trading update.
Highlights
Full-year 2025 guidance reaffirmed.
Nine-month revenues up 7% in constant currencies and up 6% organically.
Recurring revenues (84% of total revenues) grew 7% organically.
Recurring cloud software revenues (21% of total revenues) grew 15% organically.
Print revenue decline reduced group organic growth by 50 basis points.
Nine-month adjusted operating profit up 15% in constant currencies.
Margin increase reflects on-going mix shift and cost efficiencies.
Nine-month adjusted free cash flow up 17% in constant currencies.
Cash conversion benefitted from favorable timing of working capital movements.
Net-debt-to-EBITDA ratio 2.2x as of September 30, 2025.
Share buyback 2025: €1 billion completed on November 3, 2025.
New mandate signed to repurchase shares for up to €200 million from November 6, 2025, up to February 23, 2026, bringing forward part of an intended 2026 share buyback.
Nancy McKinstry, CEO and Chair of the Executive Board, commented: "For the first nine months, we delivered 6% organic growth, as momentum picked up in the third quarter for Health, Tax & Accounting, and Corporate Performance & ESG. We continued to invest in advancing our cloud-native, integrated platforms and recently launched several ground-breaking AI enhancements to our solutions. Recent partnerships and acquisitions are developing positively. We remain focused on leveraging advanced technology to support our customers in achieving improved outcomes and efficiencies in their critical workflows. I am pleased to reaffirm our full-year guidance."
Nine Months to September 30, 2025
Nine months revenues increased 5% in reporting currency, partly reflecting a 2% impact from currency translation following the depreciation of the U.S. dollar against the Euro (average €/$ 1.12 in 9M 2025 vs €/$ 1.09 in 9M 2024). In constant currencies, revenues increased 7%, including the net effect of acquisitions and divestments. Organic growth was 6% (9M 2024: 6%) following a modest pick-up in the third quarter compared to the first half of the year.
Recurring revenues (84% of total revenues) sustained 7% organic growth (9M 2024: 7%), while non-recurring revenues declined 2% (9M 2024: 2% growth). Within recurring revenues, cloud software revenues grew 15% organically (9M 2024: 16%). The 2% decline in non-recurring revenues (16% of total revenues) was mainly caused by expected declines in print books, professional services, and on-premise software licenses, combined with slower growth in transactional revenues.
Revenues from North America (63% of total) grew 5% organically (9M 2024: 6%) while revenues from Europe (29% of total) grew 6% (9M 2024: 5%). Asia Pacific & ROW (8% of total) grew 6% organically (9M 2024: 7%).
Nine-month adjusted operating profit increased 15% in constant currencies. The adjusted operating profit margin improved, driven by Health, Tax & Accounting, and Legal & Regulatory. Restructuring expenses, which are included in adjusted operating profit, increased. Product development spend (CapEx + OpEx) for the nine months approached 11% of revenues.
Health: Nine-months revenues increased 4% in constant currencies, partly reflecting the 2024 divestment of LDI. Organic growth was 5% (9M 2024: 6%), after momentum picked up in the third quarter for both Clinical Solutions and Learning Research & Practice. Excluding print, organic growth was 6% (9M 2024: 7%).
Clinical Solutions delivered 7% organic growth (9M 2024: 8%), reflecting good renewals for UpToDate clinical decision support and successful cross-selling of our drug data solutions. In October, we launched UpToDate Expert AI, adding a fast, reliable, conversational interface to our trusted medical content. In just a few weeks, over 50 of our health system customers have signed up for enterprise-wide deployments of UpToDate Expert AI. Individual physicians are now able to upgrade to the Expert AI-powered UpToDate Pro Plus version. We continued to expand our partnerships, creating opportunities to extend our customer offerings. Ambient medical scribe providers partnering with UpToDate (e.g. Abridge) are seeing strong adoption of their tools.
Learning, Research & Practice recorded 2% organic growth (9M 2024: 3%), with good organic growth in digital subscriptions and open access revenues partly offset by declines in print formats and non-recurring revenues. Excluding print, the unit's organic growth would have been 5% (9M 2024: 5%).
Tax & Accounting: Nine-month revenues increased 9% in constant currencies, including the effect of the 2024 acquisition of Isabel Group assets. Organic growth was 7% (9M 2024: 7%) following a pick-up in the third quarter compared to the first half of the year. Recurring cloud software revenues recorded double-digit organic growth in North America and Europe.
Tax & Accounting North America delivered 7% organic growth (9M 2024: 7%) with strong double-digit organic growth in our cloud-native software suite, CCH Axcess. The strength of CCH Axcess was partly offset by declines in outsourced professional services and print books. In October, we introduced transformative, Expert AI-powered innovations that integrate seamlessly into our cloud platform and provide significant productivity benefits, including CCH Axcess Intelligence; CCH Axcess Client Collaboration; CCH Axcess Scan (K-1 processing); CCH Axcess Advisor; CCH Axcess Workflow, and an agentic audit experience for CCH Axcess Engagement.
Tax & Accounting Europe also sustained 7% organic growth (9M 2024: 7%) with solid performance across all regions. The cloud-based financial workflow solutions acquired from Isabel Group in September 2024 achieved double-digit revenue growth in their first nine months with Wolters Kluwer (not included in organic growth until fourth quarter 2025) and position the business to offer end-to-end coverage of our customers' workflow from pre-accounting to post-accounting.
Financial & Corporate Compliance: Nine-month revenues increased 7% in constant currencies, reflecting the initial contribution from the RASI acquisition. Organic growth was 4% (9M 2024: 5% pro forma1). Recurring revenues (68% of division total) sustained 6% organic growth (9M 2024: 6% pro forma1) while transactional and other non-recurring revenues were flat (9M 2024: 2% growth pro forma1).
Legal Services grew 6% organically (9M 2024: 7%), as strong growth in recurring subscription revenues was offset by a year-on-year slowdown in transactional revenues. RASI, acquired March 13, 2025, achieved better-than-expected, high single-digit revenue growth (not included in organic growth) and expands our position in the mid-size U.S. corporate market for legal services.
Financial Services recorded 1% organic growth (9M 2024: 2% pro forma1) as organic growth ...
