9th Nov 2016 11:39
LONDON (Alliance News) - Information services company Experian PLC said Wednesday it is planning to dispose of its email marketing business, despite significant revenue growth in the division.
FTSE 100-listed Experian said that it is beginning the process of divesting its email/cross-channel marketing business as a result of a strategic evaluation. The business is expected to contribute approximately USD290 million in revenue in its financial year ending in 2017.
"Our email/cross-channel marketing business has improved considerably in the past 18 months with significant new client wins, resulting in strong revenue growth in the new cross-channel marketing platform. However, we see fewer synergies between email/cross-channel marketing and the rest of the group than for other parts of our business and so we commencing a divestment process for the business," said Brian Cassin, chief executive officer.
Cassin added that the divestment will not affect its targeting and data quality operations, which he said are "much more tightly coupled" with Experian's overall business strategy.
Shares in Experian were down 4.8% at 1,445.00 pence Wednesday, the second-worst performer in the FTSE 100 index.
Experian reported a pretax profit of USD520 million for the six months to September 30, up by 14% from USD458 million for the same period in 2015.
Experian said its benchmark earnings before interest and tax, from ongoing activities only, were USD574 million, up 2% on a constant currency basis. Its benchmark earnings margin was down slightly to 25.7% from 25.8%.
Revenue for the period was broadly flat year-on-year at USD2.24 billion, although Experian said it had seen 5% growth in revenue from ongoing activities.
Its largest geographical division, North America, saw 5% organic revenue growth at constant currency rates to USD1.26 billion, particularly driven by a 10% increase in Credit Services. The company's Latin American division saw organic revenue growth of 7% at constant currency rates to USD342 million. The company's joint Europe, Middle East and Africa and Asia Pacific organic revenue increased by 8% to USD209 million.
However, the UK & Ireland business saw 1% growth at constant currency rates but a 10% decline in actual currency to USD432 million from USD481 million.
Experian announced a first interim dividend of 13.0 US cents per share, up 4% on the prior year. The company also noted that it has completed USD79 million of its announced USD400 million share repurchase programme so far and will expect to complete the remainder over the course of the financial year.
By Adam Clark; [email protected]
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