Trading Update First Quarter

 

news release

Trading update, first quarter

 

16 July 2015 ─ Experian, the global information services company, today issues an update on trading for the three months to 30 June 2015.

 

Commenting on the performance, Brian Cassin, Chief Executive Officer, said:

"We've made an encouraging start to the year, with Group organic revenue growth of 3%. We saw good progress in software and analytics, fraud and identity management, consumer and business information and continued improvement in Brazil. In North America, we've seen strength in Credit Services helped by growing contributions from healthcare and automotive. We're also making considerable progress in turning around Consumer Services as we build the Experian.com brand. Revenue from Experian.com was up 20% in the quarter, in response to our enhanced consumer proposition.

"Looking ahead, our full year expectations are unchanged. We continue to expect organic revenue growth to progress during the year as we focus on our growth initiatives and as declines moderate in North America Consumer Services in H2. While foreign exchange remains a headwind, we expect margins for the year to be stable and to deliver progress in Benchmark earnings per share, both at constant currency."

 

% change in revenue year-on-year for the three months to 30 June 2015

Continuing activities only	Total growth    %	Total growth %	Organic growth %
	At actual exchange rates1	At constant exchange rates	At constant exchange rates
North America	0	0	0
Latin America	(22)	7	7
UK and Ireland	(4)	5	5
EMEA/Asia Pacific	(10)	7	7
Experian	(6)	3	3

1 Experian reports in US dollars

 

In the three months to 30 June 2015, total growth was 3% at constant exchange rates and organic revenue was also up 3%. At actual exchange rates total revenue from continuing activities was down 6%. The differences relate to foreign exchange translation effects relative to the US dollar. Following recent movements in exchange rates, we now expect a foreign exchange headwind on EBIT for the full year of approximately 7%, if current rates prevail.

 

By business line, Credit Services delivered organic revenue growth of 7% and Decision Analytics was up 9%. Organic revenue in Marketing Services and Consumer Services reduced by 2% and 6% respectively.

 

North America

Total and organic revenue growth in North America was flat.

 

The environment for consumer lending continues to be healthy, driving increased credit prospecting and origination volumes across our core consumer bureau. We are also making good progress in business credit as we increase sales effectiveness across large and mid-sized clients. In healthcare, we're seeing strength in new business bookings and implementations as we grow our position in revenue cycle management. Automotive continues to perform well, reflecting strength in credit volumes and vehicle history reports. Combined, these performances led to organic revenue growth in Credit Services of 8%. While Decision Analytics had a slow start to the year and was down 1% organically, we saw strength in fraud and identity management and secured a number of new software and analytics wins in the quarter which will assist performance over the balance of the year. In Marketing Services, where organic revenue was down 4%, we made further progress with the cross-channel marketing platform, signing important renewals and several new business wins in the quarter. However, growth in our cross-channel marketing suite is not yet sufficient to offset the attrition of legacy email clients.

 

In Consumer Services, the rate of decline further moderated to 10% as we continue to make progress in transforming this business. Experian.com continued its positive trajectory with like-for-like growth of 20% in the quarter as we build on the success of the 'Swagger' advertising campaign, helping consumers to better manage their credit scores and promoting new features. We have also now successfully migrated all our paid-for direct-to-consumer brands to Experian.com, which will greatly simplify our business. This has helped us to mitigate declines in the legacy base and in the affinity channel.

 

Latin America

At constant exchange rates, total and organic revenue in Latin America was up 7%

 

While the macroeconomic environment in Brazil remains weak, we continue to make progress driven largely by our own efforts. Growth in Credit Services was 8%, with positive contributions from Brazil and our other Latin American bureaux. In Brazil, we saw further progress in business information, in response to the introduction of higher value-added features which helped drive increased client retention rates in key channels. We also saw growth in consumer information, in part due to higher volumes of delinquency notifications, as well as a relatively weak prior year comparative. While organic revenue in Decision Analytics was flat, this was largely down to phasing. We continue to see good prospects for analytics and software throughout the region. Marketing Services had a weak quarter, down 26%, as clients reduce marketing activity in response to the economic environment in Brazil.  

 

UK and Ireland

At constant exchange rates, total and organic revenue growth for UK and Ireland was up 5%.

 

We're making solid progress in the UK & Ireland, with further revenue momentum in the quarter, and good strategic progress as we secured a number of significant client wins by combining capabilities from across our main business lines. In Credit Services, where organic revenue growth was 2%, we're seeing increased volumes, and we expect new client wins to make an increasing contribution over the balance of the year. Business information performed well, particularly in sales of more sophisticated products. Decision Analytics had an outstanding (and somewhat exceptional) quarter, with organic revenue growth of 15%, reflecting growth in fraud and identity management. 41st Parameter also performed well, reflecting first time contributions from recent client wins. A decline in Marketing Services of 1% was largely due to phasing in our data quality business, which offset growth in the cross-channel marketing suite. We expect data quality to improve as the year progresses following improved new contract bookings. Consumer Services saw further progress with organic revenue growth of 5%, reflecting new member growth in the direct-to-consumer channel as consumers seek to better understand and manage their credit profile.

 

EMEA/Asia Pacific

At constant exchange rates, total and organic revenue for EMEA/Asia Pacific was up 7%.

 

Our performance across EMEA/Asia Pacific is steadily improving, following the actions we've been taking to focus our activities in specific countries and to prioritise certain growth initiatives. Geo-political uncertainty in markets like Russia, South Africa and the Eurozone had some effect on Credit Services, where organic revenue was flat. In general, conditions across the majority of our European markets are stable, while Asia Pacific is strong. We are seeing good opportunities across several markets for Decision Analytics, where organic revenue growth increased by 17%. We were also pleased to secure a significant new win during the quarter for 41st Parameter for a new client in Asia Pacific to support their e-commerce activities. Marketing Services returned to growth, delivering organic revenue up 8% with good progress in the cross-channel marketing suite and further new client wins in the quarter.

 

Future events

Experian will hold its AGM on 22 July 2015 and will release its half-yearly financial report on 10 November 2015.

 

Contact:

 

Experian

Nadia Ridout-Jamieson	Director of Investor Relations	+44 (0)20 3042 4215
James Russell	Director of Corporate Communications

 

Finsbury

Rollo Head	+44 (0)20 7251 3801
Jenny Davey

 

This announcement is available on the Experian website at http://www.experianplc.com. There will be a conference call today to discuss this update at 9.00am (UK time), which will be broadcast live on the website with a recording available later.

 

All financial information in this trading update is based on unaudited management accounts. Certain statements made in this trading update are forward-looking statements. Such statements are based on current expectations and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from any expected future events or results referred to in these forward-looking statements.

 

Neither the content of the Company's website, nor the content of any website accessible from hyperlinks on the Company's website (or any other website), is incorporated into, or forms part of, this announcement.

 

About Experian

We are the leading global information services company, providing data and analytical tools to our clients around the world. We help businesses to manage credit risk, prevent fraud, target marketing offers and automate decision making. We also help people to check their credit report and credit score, and protect against identity theft. In 2014, we were named by Forbes magazine as one of the 'World's Most Innovative Companies'.

 

We employ approximately 17,000 people in 39 countries and our corporate headquarters are in Dublin, Ireland, with operational headquarters in Nottingham, UK; California, US; and São Paulo, Brazil. Experian plc is listed on the London Stock Exchange (EXPN) and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 index. Total revenue for the year ended March 31, 2015, was US$4.8 billion.

 

To find out more about our company, please visit http://www.experianplc.com or watch our documentary, 'Inside Experian'.