Experian posts Q3 revenue growth, backs guidance

Credit-checking firm Experian posted a jump in third-quarter revenue on Thursday with particularly strong growth in North America, as it backed its full-year guidance.

In the three months to 31 December, total revenue for the group rose 9%, with revenue in North America up 12%, closely followed by EMEA/Asia Pacific, which saw growth of 9%. Latin American revenue was up 4%, while revenue growth in the UK & Ireland was more modest at 3%.

Group organic growth also came in at 9%.

Chief executive officer Brian Cassin said: "Our performance reflects the success of our strategy to deliver innovative products at scale across our geographies and to build direct relationships with consumers, and our full-year guidance is unchanged."

North America saw 12% growth in the B2B business thanks to strength in core credit volumes, trended data and new product innovations. There was also strength across business credit, health and automotive.

Clarity Services, which provides non-traditional credit data, performed well as its core market expands and as the company introduces Clarity data to existing clients.

In the UK & Ireland, meanwhile, revenue across the B2B segment was 4% higher, driven by new business wins, pre-qualification and data aggregation services. Experian also saw good growth in decisioning software and fraud prevention, including new wins for CrossCore.

At 0938 GMT, the shares were up 1.7% to 1,907p.

Shore Capital said organic growth was better than it had anticipated following on from the 8% performance for the first half to the end of September, as it had pencilled in a mild slowdown in performance to around 7% with factors such as pacific free trade and Brexit in Europe weighing on activity.

"This outcome is very pleasing then," said analyst Robin Speakman.

Steve Clayton, manager of the HL Select UK Growth Shares fund, said: "These results show Experian making strong progress in its core US business. Experian makes most of its money in the US, and reports in dollars accordingly. The group’s clients in the B2B division tend to be banks, wanting credit data on their customers, or marketers seeking analytics that can help them identify quality sales leads.

"With the US economy strong, Experian’s data-driven services are enjoying buoyant demand. As more and more commerce moves online, businesses need better and better data to help them market themselves more effectively, putting Experian in a sweet spot.

"Few businesses offer such exposure to the digital transformation underway in economies globally, and especially in the US which is the largest and most attractive marketplace of all. The business is highly cash generative and robustly financed, leaving it firmly in charge of its own destiny. It’s one of the fund’s largest holdings and we remain very happy with that position."