Wolters Kluwer posts 6% annual organic growth, announces 500 million euro buyback (updated)

Wolters Kluwer

25/02/2026 07:28

Recasts on price increase, CFO comments on spending, strategy, competition, rewrites throughout.

By Leo Marchandon

Feb 25 - Dutch software maker Wolters Kluwer WLSNc.AS on Wednesday reported, 2025 revenues of 6.13 billion euros ($7.23 billion), up 6% organically driven by higher subscription prices.

Cloud software revenues, which made up 21% of total revenues, grew 15% organically during the year. Adjusted operating profit rose 9% in constant currencies to 1.687 billion euros.

For 2026, Wolters Kluwer expects good organic growth and an adjusted operating profit margin of approximately 28.0% while increasing annual product development spending to 12-13% of revenues to accelerate its AI strategy.

Chief Financial Officer Kevin Entricken told Reuters that improved retention rates were linked to enhanced productivity clients gained from AI-backed solutions.

"We are using the additional value that artificial intelligence functionalities offer to defend our price increases," he said in an interview.

Outgoing CEO Nancy McKinstry, who had led the company since 2003, said in a statement that nearly 70% of revenues came from AI-powered solutions.

        McKinstry is set to retire this month and hand over her role to Stacey Caywood, who plans to increase product development spending to 12-13% of revenues in 2026 as the company accelerates its shift to bolster cloud-based and AI-driven platforms.

Wolters Kluwer, which specializes in tools for professionals in healthcare, tax, legal, and accounting sectors, is betting that its decade-long AI track record and profession-specific expertise will protect it from
disruption
 by general-purpose AI like Anthropic's Claude or OpenAI's ChatGPT.

"If you're using an AI model that doesn't have that curated expert opinion, proprietary content in it, you are frankly involving a lot more risk," Entricken said.

The company announced a 2026 share buyback of up to 500 million euros, of which 100 million euros has been completed to date, and proposed a 2025 dividend of €2.52 per share, an 8% increase.

($1 = 0.8472 euros)

 (Reporting by Leo Marchandon in Gdansk; Editing by Matt Scuffham)

 ((leo.marchandon@thomsonreuters.com))