12th Jul 2007 07:00
Experian Group Limited12 July 2007 12 July 2007 Experian Group Limited Interim Management Statement, First Quarter Experian, the global information solutions company, today issues an update ontrading for the three months to 30 June 2007. Commenting on the performance of Experian, Don Robert, Chief Executive Officer,said: "Overall trading is consistent with our expectations at the time of thePreliminary Results announcement on 23 May 2007. While we still face challengesin some markets, we are pleased with the start we have made to the year,reflecting good performances across the group. For the year as a whole, wecontinue to expect organic sales growth at a mid to high single-digit rate, withacceleration as we move into the second half." Experian Group % change in sales year-on-year for the three months to 30 June 2007+----------------------+---------------+----------------+----------------+|Continuing activities | Total growth | Total growth | Organic growth ||only1 | % | % | % || | | | |+----------------------+---------------+----------------+----------------+| | At actual | At constant | At constant || |exchange rates2| exchange rates | exchange rates |+----------------------+---------------+----------------+----------------+|Americas3 | 8 | 8 | 7 |+----------------------+---------------+----------------+----------------+|UK and Ireland | 17 | 9 | 6 |+----------------------+---------------+----------------+----------------+|EMEA/Asia Pacific | 17 | 11 | 7 |+----------------------+---------------+----------------+----------------+|Experian | 11 | 8 | 7 |+----------------------+---------------+----------------+----------------+ 1 As previously disclosed, two businesses have been treated as discontinuing from 1 April 2006. These are MetaReward's incentive marketing websites, which have been closed, and large scale UK account processing, where Experian has announced its phased withdrawal by Autumn 2009 2 Experian is reporting in US dollars 3 Figures exclude the performance of Serasa (see announcement of 26 June 2007), 65% of which was acquired on 28 June 2007. For future trading updates Experian will split the Americas region into North America and Latin America In the three months to 30 June 2007, sales from continuing activities atExperian increased by 8% at constant exchange rates. Organic sales growth was7%, reflecting solid performance in Credit Services, double-digit growth inDecision Analytics and modest improvement in Marketing Solutions. Organic salesgrowth at Interactive was 13%, the slowdown reflecting the downturn atLowerMyBills. Acquisitions contributed 1% to sales growth in the period. Experian acquired five businesses during the quarter, with total acquisitionspend of $1.6bn. These included the purchase of an initial 65% stake in Serasa,the market leading credit bureau in Brazil, for R$2.32bn (US$1.2bn) and theacquisition of Hitwise, a leading online market intelligence company, forUS$240m. Other acquisitions were Informarketing, a direct marketing servicesprovider in Brazil, Tallyman, a collections management software business, andEmailing Solution, a leading French permission-based email marketing company. Americas Sales in the Americas in the three months to 30 June 2007 increased by 8% intotal. Organic growth was 7%, with Informarketing (acquired in April 2007) andHitwise (acquired in June 2007), contributing the balance. Credit Services delivered mid single-digit organic growth in the first quarter,reflecting steady progress within consumer credit and acceleration withinautomotive. Decision Analytics performed well against strong comparatives, whileprogress in Marketing Solutions was encouraging, with a return to lowsingle-digit growth, reflecting an improved backdrop for traditional activitiesand strong performances in multi-channel marketing. Organic sales growth at Interactive was 10% in the first quarter, with thedeceleration reflecting the impact on LowerMyBills of the slowdown in the USsub-prime mortgage market. Sales at LowerMyBills were down over 20%year-on-year. Across the remainder of Interactive growth was strong, benefitingfrom continued growth in membership revenues and advertising optimisationinitiatives. UK and Ireland Sales from continuing activities in the UK and Ireland increased by 9% in thefirst quarter at constant exchange rates. Organic sales growth was 6%, withacquisitions, mainly Eiger Systems (acquired in June 2006), Tallyman (acquiredin May 2007) and Hitwise, contributing the balance. The environment for UK financial services companies remains tough, with lendersmore focused on portfolio management than origination. Credit Services deliveredlow single-digit organic sales growth in the quarter, with mid single-digitgrowth at Decision Analytics. Marketing Solutions, where the previouslyannounced integration process is largely complete, saw a return to growth, withnew contract wins from BSkyB in the period. Interactive sales nearly doubledyear-on-year. EMEA/Asia Pacific At constant exchange rates, sales in EMEA/Asia Pacific increased by 11% in thefirst quarter. Organic sales growth was 7%, with acquisitions, mainly EmailingSolution (acquired in May 2007), Tallyman and Hitwise, contributing the balance.Credit Services delivered mid single-digit organic sales growth, while DecisionAnalytics continued to grow strongly, with progress in the period includingcontract wins in Eastern Europe and in the telecommunications sector. MarketingSolutions delivered double-digit organic sales growth. Future announcements Experian will hold its AGM in Dublin on 18 July 2007, and will issue its FirstHalf Trading Update on 10 October 2007. Enquiries Experian +44 (0)203 042 4215Paul BrooksChief Financial Officer Nadia Ridout-JamiesonDirector of Investor Relations Finsbury +44 (0)207 251 3801Rollo Head James Wyatt-Tilby This announcement is available on the Experian website, www.experiangroup.com.There will be a conference call to discuss this update at 3.00pm today (UKtime), which will be broadcast live on the website with a recording availablelater. All financial information is based on unaudited management accounts. Certainstatements made in this Interim Management Statement are forward-lookingstatements. Such statements are based on current expectations and are subject toa number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual events or results todiffer materially from any expected future events or results referred to inthese forward-looking statements. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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