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  • Revenue from continuing activities up 5%, 3% organic

  • Good growth for Credit Services in non-financial verticals

  • Strong demand for countercyclical products

  • New media activities make good strategic progress

  • Interactive delivers organic revenue growth of 47%

2009 Revenue by activity: credit services, decision analytics, marketing services, interactive

EBIT US$m and margin. EBIT excludes discontining activities. EBIT margin is for continuing activities only

Total revenue growth: Organic growth, acquired growth. Total growth is defined as year-on-year revenue growth at constant exchange rates. 2006, 2007 and 2008 exclude UK account processing

Organic revenue growth. Organic growth is defined as year-on-year revenue growth at constant exchange rates, excluding acquisitions until the date of their anniversary. 2006, 7007 and 2008 exclude UK account processing

UK and Ireland


At constant currency, there was good progress during the year across UK and Ireland, notwithstanding exceptionally challenging market conditions for financial services clients. Performance benefited from growth in non-financial verticals, good demand for countercyclical products and further market penetration at Consumer Direct. Strong execution on cost efficiency measures helped to deliver a significant uplift in margins of 150 basis points.

1

Growth at constant exchange rates

2

2008 restated for reclassification of certain businesses between segments, see note 2 to the Group financial statements

3

Discontinuing activities include UK account processing and other smaller activities. We anticipate that the closure of UK account processing will be completed in the year ending 31 March 2010.

4

EBIT margin is for continuing activities only

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Year ended 31 March

2009
US$m

2008
US$m

Total
growth1
%

Organic
growth1
%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Revenue

 

 

 

 

 

 

– Credit Services2

265

316

-

(2)

 

 

– Decision Analytics

227

247

9

6

 

 

– Marketing Services2

274

328

(2)

(3)

 

 

– Interactive

84

68

47

47

 

 

Total – continuing activities

850

959

5

3

 

 

Discontinuing activities3

52

65

n/a

 

 

 

Total UK and Ireland

902

1,024

4

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

EBIT – continuing activities

213

226

10

 

 

 

Discontinuing activities3

-

6

n/a

 

 

 

Total UK and Ireland

213

232

8

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

EBIT margin4

25.1%

23.6%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Credit Services

The major disruption in the financial services industry during the year caused a significant reduction in lending as well as major client consolidations. Total revenue for Credit Services was flat at constant exchange rates, while organic revenue declined by 2%. The relatively modest rate of decline was reflective of growth in non-financial verticals such as public sector and utilities, growth in revenue from countercyclical initiatives and a resilient performance within business information. Strategic initiatives during the year included further investment in sales infrastructure across the public sector and utilities verticals, and re-orientation of existing sales resource towards countercyclical opportunities.

Decision Analytics

Total revenue at Decision Analytics increased by 9% at constant exchange rates, with organic revenue growth of 6%. The acquisition contribution related to Tallyman and N4 Solutions, both of which performed ahead of plan. Growth was driven by strong demand for countercyclical products, including fraud prevention and collections software, and there was good progress in non-financial verticals such as telecommunications and public sector. During the year, there were large contract wins with Anglian Water and Vanquis Bank, for example.

Marketing Services

Total revenue in Marketing Services decreased by 2% at constant exchange rates. Organic revenue declined by 3%. Traditional marketing activities were further affected by the downturn in the financial services market. New media activities performed well, with double-digit growth across contact data management, email services and online competitive intelligence. There was good strategic progress during the year across new media, with further penetration of the public sector by the Mosaic segmentation tool and enhancements to contact data tools.

Interactive

Interactive performed strongly, delivering organic revenue growth of 47%. Growth was driven by increased direct memberships, reflecting product enhancements, greater market segmentation and investment in branding and customer acquisition. Experian has also made good progress in growing indirect memberships with a number of affinity partnership wins in the year.

Financial review

Revenue from continuing activities was US$850m, up 5% at constant exchange rates. Organic revenue growth was 3%. The contribution to revenue growth from acquisitions during the period was 2%. The acquisition contribution related to Tallyman, N4 Solutions, pH Group and Hitwise.

EBIT from continuing activities was US$213m, up 10% at constant exchange rates. The EBIT margin was 25.1% (2008: 23.6%). The improvement in margin was due to strong execution on cost efficiency initiatives, including outsourcing to India, organisational delayering and technology efficiencies.

Social, ethical and environmental (SEE) risks and opportunities

The UK and Ireland’s performance has been recognised with two awards from the charity ‘Business in the Community’. The region has again achieved environmental certification to ISO14001, the most stringent international measure of environmental management. Investment in products with strong social and environmental aspects will make a demonstrable contribution in the

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