16th Apr 2008 07:00
Experian Group Limited16 April 2008 Experian Group Limited Trading update, second half Experian, the global information services company, today issues an update ontrading for the six months to 31 March 2008. Commenting on the performance of Experian, Don Robert, Chief Executive Officer,said: "Experian's strong portfolio of businesses enabled the group to deliver a goodsecond-half performance, despite continuing marketplace challenges in the US andthe UK. Total revenue growth was 21% for the second half, with organic revenuegrowth of 2%. For the full year we expect double-digit EBIT growth, unchangedfrom our previous expectations. "Looking ahead, we expect good performances in new geographies and across manybusiness lines. Although we do not plan on short-term improvement in the US andUK financial services environment, and are facing strong comparables in thefirst quarter, our cost efficiency programme is on track and we remain confidentabout the outlook." Experian Group % change in revenue year-on-year for the six months to 31 March 2008--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Continuing activities Total growth Total growth Organic growthonly(1) % % % At actual At constant At constant exchange rates(2) exchange rates exchange rates--------------------------------------------------------------------------------North America 2 2 1Latin America > 100(3) > 100(3) 40UK and Ireland 12 7 1EMEA/Asia Pacific 26 12 6--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Experian 21 15 2--------------------------------------------------------------------------------(1) Continuing activities exclude the contributions of MetaReward, UK account processing and Loyalty Solutions(2) Experian is reporting in US dollars(3) Latin America total growth at actual exchange rates for the six months ended 31 March 2008 was 7,306% and total growth at constant exchange rates was 6,119% In the six months to 31 March 2008, revenue from continuing activities atExperian increased by 15% at constant exchange rates. Group organic revenuegrowth was 2% (Q3 2%, Q4 1%). There was good organic revenue growth at DecisionAnalytics and Interactive, both up 7%. There were modest organic revenuedeclines in Credit Services and Marketing Services of 1% each. Acquisitionscontributed 13% to revenue growth. Net debt at the end of the period was $2.7bn. North AmericaRevenue 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 businessinformation helped mitigate weakness in consumer information, resulting in adecline in organic revenue of 3% at Credit Services. Decision Analyticsperformed well against a very strong comparable, delivering 3% organic growthand reflecting a number of new business wins in the telecommunications andenergy sectors. Marketing Services continued to benefit from the mix shift tonew media with 3% organic revenue growth, while at Interactive organic revenuegrowth was 3%, with continued strength in Consumer Direct and PriceGrabberoffsetting further weakness at LowerMyBills. Latin AmericaRevenue 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, reflectingthe strong market environment for credit in Brazil. The integration of Serasahas now been completed. UK and IrelandRevenue from continuing activities for the six months ended 31 March 2008increased by 7% at constant exchange rates. Organic revenue rose 1%, with theacquisitions of Tallyman (acquired in May 2007), Hitwise, The pH Group (acquiredin 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 consumerinformation and as a result Credit Services' organic revenue declined modestlyby 1%. At Decision Analytics organic revenue rose 1%, with some improvement inpipeline conversion, offsetting weak application processing activity. MarketingServices continues to be affected by lower levels of spend by financial servicesclients, with organic revenue down 7% in the half. Interactive performed verystrongly, as higher volumes of new CreditExpert members contributed to a neardoubling of revenues. EMEA/Asia PacificAt constant exchange rates, revenue in EMEA/Asia Pacific increased by 12% in thesix-month period to 31 March 2008. Organic revenue growth was 6%, withacquisitions, mainly Emailing Solution (acquired in May 2007), Tallyman andHitwise, contributing the balance. Organic revenue growth was 1% at Credit Services in the half. Decision Analyticsperformed strongly, with organic revenue growth of 24%, reflecting goodperformances in both Europe and Asia Pacific. Marketing Services again performedwell, particularly across Asia Pacific, with organic growth up 10%. Future announcements Experian will issue its full year results announcement on 21 May 2008. Enquiries ExperianPaul Brooks Chief Financial Officer +44 (0)203 042 4215Nadia Ridout-Jamieson Director of Investor Relations FinsburyRollo Head +44 (0)207 251 3801Don 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 andat 3.00pm (UK time). Both will be broadcast live on the website with a recordingavailable later. All financial information is based on unaudited management accounts. Certainstatements made in this trading update are forward-looking statements. Suchstatements are based on current expectations and are subject to a number ofrisks and uncertainties that could cause actual events or results to differmaterially from any expected future events or results referred to in theseforward-looking statements. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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