15th Nov 2023 10:02
(Alliance News) - Experian PLC calmed some investor nerves and its shares regained poise as its quarterly outturn was nowhere as poor as what was seen in its peer group.
Peers in the consumer credit reporting space began publishing quarterly numbers in October.
The likes of TransUnion and Equifax Inc, both listed in New York, did not receive rave reviews in the same way Experian has so far.
TransUnion reported a swing to a net loss for the third-quarter to September 30, while Equifax reduced its revenue and profit outlook for the full-year. TransUnion shares slumped by roughly a quarter on the day it reported. Equifax had suffered a 3.2% loss on the day of its own results, before a 5.2% sell-off after TransUnion poorly-received results.
Experian was up 5.5% at 2,827.00 pence each in London on Wednesday.
The read-across meant Experian shares fell around 7% in October, though Wednesday's update meant the stock is now above where it stood at the start of last month.
"Although shares have already recovered after weak peer results worried investors, we still see scope for a positive reaction given strong performance and strategic progress," analysts at UBS commented.
For the six months that ended on September 30, the Dublin-based consumer credit checker said pretax profit grew 48% to USD763 million in the six months to September 30 from USD517 million a year prior.
Revenue grew 5.2% to USD3.42 billion from USD3.25 billion the year before, due to "good" organic revenue growth across all regions, with a 4% increase in North America, 11% in Latin America, 1% in the UK and Ireland and 8% in Europe, the Middle East and Africa and Asia Pacific.
Experian upped its interim dividend by 5.8% to 18.0 US cents from 17.0 US cents in the first half of financial 2022.
Experian numbers show how better diversified it is compared to peer TransUnion, according to AJ Bell analyst Russ Mould.
"Credit data services outfit Experian's first half numbers are particularly pleasing when you consider the disappointment served up by its sector peer TransUnion last month. It demonstrates the benefits of Experian's more diversified model – the ability to translate a 5% increase in revenue to a near 50% increase in pre-tax profit is impressive and testament to just what an efficient and profitable operation this is. Ultimately data plays an increasingly critical role in the global economy and that is not something which is likely to change in the short, medium or long term. As long as Experian can continue to execute properly its prospects look pretty strong," the analyst said.
By Eric Cunha, Alliance News news editor
Comments and questions to [email protected]
Copyright 2023 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
Related Shares:
Experian