Experian reports strong growth driven by US expansion

Consumer credit data company Experian reported strong growth in its third quarter trading update this morning, driven by the expansion of the US business.

Shares were up two per cent on the news that the firm’s underlying organic growth was nine per cent, boosted by 12 per cent growth in North America with both the business to business (B2B) and consumer services up 12 per cent.

In the US the company expanded its identity protection offer, which now has an estimated 320,000 paying members and the free membership base has reached more than 17m customers.

Growth was four per cent in Latin America, three per cent in the UK and Ireland, and nine per cent in the EMEA/Asia Pacific region.

Experian chief executive Brian Cassin said: “We delivered strong growth in the third quarter with total and organic revenue growth of nine per cent at constant exchange rates and total revenue growth at actual exchange rates of five per cent.

“Our performances 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.”

Steve Clayton, manager of the Hargreaves Lansdown Select UK Growth Shares fund, said the company is “highly cash generative and robustly financed”.

He added: “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.”