17th Apr 2007 07:02
Experian Group Limited17 April 2007 Experian Group Limited Second Half Trading Update Experian, the global information solutions company, today issues an update ontrading in the six months to 31 March 2007. Commenting on the performance of Experian, Don Robert, Chief Executive Officer,said: "We are pleased with the way our businesses have performed in the second half,ensuring a strong outcome for the year. This performance reflects the strengthand scale of the Experian business model around the world. While we continue toface challenges in some of the markets in which we operate, we look forward tothe future with confidence." Experian Group % change in sales year-on-year for the six months to 31 March 2007 Continuing activities Total growth Total growth Organic growthonly* % % % At actual At constant At constant exchange rates# exchange rates exchange rates Americas 12 12 9UK and Ireland 26 14 6EMEA/Asia Pacific 17 9 8Experian 16 12 8 * As previously disclosed, two businesses have been treated as discontinuingfrom 1 April 2006. These are MetaReward's incentive marketing websites, whichhave been closed, and large scale UK account processing, where Experian hasannounced its phased withdrawal by Autumn 2009 # Experian is reporting in US dollars In the six months to 31 March 2007, sales from continuing activities at Experianincreased by 12% at constant exchange rates. Organic growth was 8%, consistentwith the rate in the first half of the year (7%). Globally in the second half, there was continued strong double-digit organicgrowth in Decision Analytics and Interactive, Credit Services returned to midsingle-digit growth and Marketing Solutions sales were in line with last year onan organic basis. Acquisitions contributed 4% to sales growth in the period. Experian acquired five businesses during the half - a business and consumercredit bureau in Estonia, an additional US affiliate credit bureau, a USbusiness information distributor, Adhoc Solutions (Belgian micromarketing) andERS, a UK-based economic research consultancy. Experian also purchased aminority stake in Sinotrust, a business information and market research companyin China and, after the year end, acquired Informarketing, a direct marketingservices provider in Brazil. AmericasIn dollars, sales in the Americas from continuing activities in the six monthsto 31 March 2007 increased by 12% in total. Organic growth was 9%, withPriceGrabber, which was acquired in mid-December 2005, generating the remaining3%. Credit Services saw mid single-digit organic growth in the second half, withparticularly good performances in account management and collections withinconsumer credit and good growth elsewhere in business information andautomotive. Decision Analytics again performed strongly in the second half,while sales in Marketing Solutions were marginally down year-on-year. Organic sales growth at Interactive was slightly less than 20% in the secondhalf of the year, with the deceleration in the fourth quarter reflecting theimpact on LowerMyBills of the slowdown in the US sub-prime mortgage market.Sales at LowerMyBills were down 5% in the second half (Q3: unchanged; Q4: down8%). The other Interactive businesses performed strongly in the period. UK and IrelandSales from continuing activities in the UK and Ireland increased by 14% in thesecond half at constant exchange rates. Organic growth was 6%, withacquisitions, mainly ClarityBlue (acquired in January 2006) and Eiger Systems(acquired in June 2006), contributing the balance. The environment for UK financial services companies was again challenging, whichaffected both Credit Services and Marketing Solutions. Credit Services showedlow single-digit organic sales growth in the half. Marketing Solutions was inline with last year, including a strong organic growth performance fromClarityBlue, partly offset by the impact of major new contracts in the secondhalf of last year at QAS. Decision Analytics delivered another consistent periodof high single-digit sales growth, with continued momentum in fraud prevention.Interactive sales more than doubled in the half. In March 2007, Experian announced its intention to integrate its UK marketingdata, processing and database management activities into a single business unit.Customers will benefit from one point of contact with Experian across onetechnology platform. As a result, there will be a headcount reduction over timeof about 100, in areas such as sales, delivery and systems. Restructuring costs,which will be charged against EBIT, are expected to be about $12m, of whichabout $8m has been incurred in the year ended 31 March 2007, with the balance inthe current financial year. EMEA/Asia PacificAt constant exchange rates, sales in EMEA/Asia Pacific increased by 9% in thehalf, of which organic growth contributed 8%. Credit Services sales acceleratedin the second half, driven by stronger growth in French transaction processing.This reflects the first time contribution of contract wins during the year andcontinued double-digit increases from the consumer credit bureaux in Southernand Eastern Europe and South Africa. Both Decision Analytics and MarketingSolutions delivered double-digit sales growth in the period. Future announcementsExperian will announce its Preliminary Results on 23 May 2007. Its First QuarterTrading Update will be announced on 12 July 2007. Enquiries ExperianPaul Brooks Chief Financial Officer 0203 042 4215Fay Dodds Director of Investor Relations FinsburyRollo Head 0207 251 3801James 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 with arecording available later on the website. 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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