Experian 1st Half Profit Falls; Experienced Higher Enrollments After Equifax Data Breach -- Update
15 November 2017 - 10:01PM
Dow Jones News
By Maryam Cockar
Experian PLC (EXPN.LN) on Wednesday reported a 7% fall in pretax
profit for the first half of fiscal 2018 after booking much higher
finance charges, and said it expects good levels of growth for the
year.
The credit-reporting agency said pretax profit for the six
months ended Sept. 30 was $467 million, compared with $500 million
a year earlier. Group revenue increased to $2.19 billion compared
with $2.09 billion a year earlier, it said.
The company booked $60 million in finance charges for the
period, against $2 million for the prior period.
Total revenue from the company's largest market, North America,
increased to $1.26 billion from $1.18 billion, however total
revenue from the U.K. and Ireland fell to $378 million from GBP410
million.
FTSE 100-listed Experian raised its interim dividend by 4% to
13.5 U.S. cents from 13 cents last year.
Chief Executive Brian Cassin said that he expects organic
revenue growth in the mid-single digit range and stable margins as
Experian invests in operations and growth initiatives. He added
that he continues to expect further progress in benchmark earnings
per share.
Experian said that its consumer services business experienced a
spike in enrollments after U.S. rival Equifax Inc. announced in
September that hackers made off with the personal details of
millions of its customers. Experian said that the Equifax data
breach will increase the external risks associated with information
security and that it has heightened legislative and regulatory
activity.
Charlie Huggins, fund manager at Hargreaves Landsdown, said that
priority for Experian is to ensure that its data security defenses
are as strong as possible so it can avoid a similar fate to
Equifax. He added that Experian's long-term growth prospects are
excellent, providing it can keep the hackers at bay.
Shares are down 8 pence, or 0.5%, to 1,600 pence at 1030
GMT.
Write to Maryam Cockar at maryam.cockar@dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 15, 2017 05:46 ET (10:46 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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