Legal, Tax & Regulatory Information Market to Exceed $18 Billion by 2009
The Report’s key findings include:
- The segment is dominated by three organizations, Thompson Legal & Regulatory, Wolters Kluwer, and LexisNexis (Reed Elsevier).
- The Bureau of National Affairs, Shin-Nippon Hoki Shuppan KK, US Investigations Services, American Bar Association, ALM Properties, MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd., and Informa plc round out the segment’s top ten organizations.
- Among the top 25 organizations, two, LocatePLUS and AlexInformation, are showing extraordinary growth. LocatePLUS is in the public records space. AlexInformation provides educational texts to the regulatory compliance and financial sectors.
- The segment will experience more international acquisitions and joint ventures, as publishers seek to establish stronger footholds in Europe and Asia.
- Low-end legal research services will enjoy plenty of room for new growth. They can increase their share of the small-firm and sole-practitioner markets by providing economy of price and time. Making it easier for this class of researchers to get in and out with reliable information they need, as well as being nimble and agile in response to their changing needs, will help low-end research services penetrate this market.
- FindLaw (Thomson), Casemaker, Legal Week Global Media and ALM properties are among the organizations whose innovation, agility and market focus are driving growth and who have been recognized by Outsell as Rising Stars and Leader Board organizations.
The Big Three
Together, the “Big Three” of Thompson Legal & Regulatory, Wolters Kluwer, and LexisNexis (Reed Elsevier), account for a combined market share of 59.1 percent. Outsell predicts these three firms will keep expanding by acquiring more companies in the legal technology space.
Thomson Legal & Regulatory
“Our Legal and Regulatory group continued to deliver strong top-line growth, achieving 8 percent organic growth in the quarter,” Thomson President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Richard J. Harrington said in a prepared statement announcing Thomson’s Second-Quarter 2006 Results [1], released in July.
The Legal & Regulatory group reported:
- Revenues of $923 million, an increase of 9 percent, with organic revenue growing 8 percent and growth from acquisitions accounting for 1 percent. Segment operating profits grew 13 percent, to $277 million.
- North American legal products and services continued achieving strong revenue growth across all customer segments, as did Findlaw in the client development market.
- Revenue in the tax and accounting business was also up significantly.
- A 2 percent decline in Print and CD sales was in line with expectations and appeared to be the segments only sour note.
Wolters Kluwer
According to [2], released in August and the most recent financial statements available, overall revenues increased 12 percent. The company’s Legal, Tax and Regulatory European division continued making steady progress in improving revenues. Strong online revenue growth occurred in Italy, Spain and Central Europe, boosted by investments in online and electronic products. The restructuring in the Netherlands and Belgium showed positive results, however, the restructuring in the United Kingdom is still underway. In addition, Wolters Kluwer reported significant growth in core software products for the tax and accounting market, driven by continued investments in product development, delivered strong results for the Tax, Accounting and Legal division in the U.S. and Canada. The introduction of new online law and business products also delivered double-digit growth. LexisNexis LexisNexis revenues increased 9 percent during the first six months of 2006, according to Reed Elsevier’s Interim Results [3] presentation. The adjusted operating profit increased 8 percent, while the adjusted operating margin grew 22 percent, driven by strong subscription renewals, new product sales and wider distribution in the U.S. legal markets, corporate and federal markets and internationally. The Outsell MarketView report analyzes the size, growth rates, financial performance, and market shares of the top 25 companies in the Legal, Tax and Regulatory segment of the information industry. It identifies organizations that are “rising stars” and disruptive new entrants, as well as trends and change drivers. The report also provides clear and essential actions for continued growth and the full report may be purchased at www.outsellinc.com/store/products/295 [4]