16 April 2008
Experian, the global information services company, today issues an update on trading for the six months to 31 March 2008.
Commenting on the performance of Experian, Don Robert, Chief Executive Officer, said:
“Experian’s s trong portfolio of businesses enabled the Group to deliver a good second-half performance, despite continuing marketplace challenges in the US and the UK. Total revenue growth was 21% for the second half, with organic revenue growth of 2%. For the full year we expect double-digit EBIT growth, unchanged from our previous expectations.
“Looking ahead, we expect good performances in new geographies and across many business lines. Although we do not plan on short-term improvement in the US and UK financial services environment, and are facing strong comparables in the first quarter, our cost efficiency programme is on track and we remain confident about the outlook.”
| Continuing activities only1 | Total growth % At actual exchange rates2 | Total growth % At constant exchange rates | Organic growth % At constant exchange rates |
|---|---|---|---|
| North America | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| Latin America | >100 3 | >100 3 | 40 |
| UK and Ireland | 12 | 7 | 1 |
| EMEA/Asia Pacific | 26 | 12 | 6 |
| Experian | 21 | 15 | 2 |
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In the six months to 31 March 2008, revenue from continuing activities at Experian increased by 15% at constant exchange rates. Group organic revenue growth was 2% (Q3 2%, Q4 1%). There was good organic revenue growth at Decision Analytics and Interactive, both up 7%. There were modest organic revenue declines in Credit Services and Marketing Services of 1% each. Acquisitions contributed 13% to revenue growth. Net debt at the end of the period was $2.7bn.
Revenue in North America for the six months ended 31 March 2008 increased by 2% in total. Organic growth was 1%, with Hitwise (acquired in June 2007) contributing the balance.
Market conditions in US financial services continued to be challenging, particularly in mortgage and pre-screen. Growth in automotive and business information helped mitigate weakness in consumer information, resulting in a decline in organic revenue of 3% at Credit Services. Decision Analytics performed well against a very strong comparable, delivering 3% organic growth and reflecting a number of new business wins in the telecommunications and energy sectors. Marketing Services continued to benefit from the mix shift to new media with 3% organic revenue growth, while at Interactive organic revenue growth was 3%, with continued strength in Consumer Direct and PriceGrabber offsetting further weakness at LowerMyBills.
Revenue for Latin America in the six-month period to 31 March 2008 was $221m (prior year $3m), including contributions from Serasa (acquired in June 2007) and Informarketing (acquired in April 2007). Organic revenue growth was 40%, reflecting the performance of Decision Analytics only.
Serasa performed well during the period, in line with the buy plan, reflecting the strong market environment for credit in Brazil. The integration of Serasa has now been completed.
Revenue from continuing activities for the six months ended 31 March 2008 increased by 7% at constant exchange rates. Organic revenue rose 1%, with the acquisitions of Tallyman (acquired in May 2007), Hitwise, The pH Group (acquired in July 2007) and N4 Solutions (acquired in July 2007) contributing the balance.
While the environment for UK financial services continues to be uncertain, strength in business information helped mitigate weakness in consumer information and as a result Credit Services’ organic revenue declined modestly by 1%. At Decision Analytics organic revenue rose 1%, with some improvement in pipeline conversion, offsetting weak application processing activity. Marketing Services continues to be affected by lower levels of spend by financial services clients, with organic revenue down 7% in the half. Interactive performed very strongly, as higher volumes of new CreditExpert members contributed to a near doubling of revenues.
At constant exchange rates, revenue in EMEA/Asia Pacific increased by 12% in the six-month period to 31 March 2008. Organic revenue growth was 6%, with acquisitions, mainly Emailing Solution (acquired in May 2007), Tallyman and Hitwise, contributing the balance.
Organic revenue growth was 1% at Credit Services in the half. Decision Analytics performed strongly, with organic revenue growth of 24%, reflecting good performances in both Europe and Asia Pacific. Marketing Services again performed well, particularly across Asia Pacific, with organic growth up 10%.
Experian will issue its full year results announcement on 21 May 2008.
| Experian | ||
| Paul Brooks | Chief Financial Officer | +44 (0)203 042 4215 |
| Nadia Ridout-Jamieson | Director of Investor Relations | |
| Finsbury | ||
| Rollo Head | +44 (0)207 251 3801 | |
| Don Hunter | ||
This announcement is available on the Experian website, www.experiangroup.com. There will be two conference calls today to discuss this update, at 9.00am and at 3.00pm (UK time). Both will be broadcast live on the website with a recording available later.
All financial information is based on unaudited management accounts. Certain statements made in this trading update are forward-looking statements. Such statements are based on current expectations and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from any expected future events or results referred to in these forward-looking statements.