11th May 2016 13:31
LONDON (Alliance News) - Experian, the FTSE 100 data and analytics company known for providing credit scores to would-be borrowers, on Wednesday increased its annual dividend, reported higher pretax profit at actual exchange rates, and said it expects to make share repurchases amounting to USD400 million in its new financial year.
Pretax profit rose to USD1.03 billion in the financial year ended March 31, from USD1.01 billion a year earlier, on revenue from continuing activities of USD4.47 billion, with both total and organic revenue at constant exchange rates up 5%. At actual exchange rates, total revenue from continuing activities fell by 4% due to foreign exchange headwinds during the period.
If recent currency rates prevail, Experian said, foreign exchange will no longer be a headwind for the year ending March 31, 2017. The previous financial year saw headwinds from the weakening of the the Brazilian real in particular, and to a lesser extent sterling and the euro, against the US dollar.
Benchmark pretax profit - a closely watched measure of earnings which excludes charges such as amortisation - amounted to USD1.14 billion in the financial year, up 3% at constant exchange rates. At actual exchange rates, benchmark earnings per share amounted to 89.1 US cents, up 5% at constant exchange rates but down 6% at actual exchange rates.
Experian increased its dividend for the year as a whole to 40.00 US cents, from 39.25 cents a year earlier. Of the planned USD400 million in share repurchases in the new financial year, USD144 million is to complete an existing USD800 million programme. Shares bought under the programme will be cancelled.
"We have returned Experian to organic revenue growth within our target range and driven greater efficiencies in our business, whilst rigorously applying our robust capital framework," Chief Executive Officer Brian Cassin said in a statement.
"As we look forward, we're investing in a range of initiatives which will help us deliver another year of good growth, within our target range of mid single-digit organic revenue growth, with stable margins and further progress in benchmark earnings per share," Cassin said.
Shares in Experian were down 1.0% at 1,257.00 pence Wednesday.
By Samuel Agini; [email protected]; @samuelagini
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