UK and Ireland
At constant exchange rates, UK and Ireland revenue performance was flat, notwithstanding significant market challenges within the financial services and retail sectors. Interactive performed strongly. Good execution on cost efficiency measures helped to deliver an uplift in margins of 160 basis points.
| 2009 | 2008 | Total growth1 |
Organic growth1 |
|||||||
| Six months ended 30 September | US$m | US$m | % | % | ||||||
| Revenue | ||||||||||
| Credit Services | 116 | 149 | (5 | ) | (5 | ) | ||||
| Decision Analytics | 99 | 130 | (8 | ) | (8 | ) | ||||
| Marketing Services | 120 | 152 | (4 | ) | (3 | ) | ||||
| Interactive | 52 | 42 | 51 | 51 | ||||||
| Total – continuing activities | 387 | 473 | - | - | ||||||
| Discontinuing activities2 | 10 | 32 | n/a | |||||||
| Total UK and Ireland | 397 | 505 | (4 | ) | ||||||
| EBIT | ||||||||||
| Continuing activities | 106 | 122 | 5 | |||||||
| Discontinuing activities2 | - | 1 | n/a | |||||||
| Total UK and Ireland | 106 | 123 | 5 | |||||||
| EBIT margin3 | 27.4% | 25.8% |
| 1 | Growth at constant exchange rates |
| 2 | Discontinuing activities include UK account processing and other smaller activities. We anticipate that the closure of UK account processing will be completed in the current financial year |
| 3 | EBIT margin is for continuing activities only |
Credit Services
Total revenue at constant exchange rates and organic revenue at Credit Services declined by 5%. This was due to low levels of origination activity, the impact of financial services consolidation and market exits, partially offset by growth in non-financial verticals and growth in countercyclical revenue. Strategically, Experian continues to invest in its account management and collections capabilities to meet clients’ needs to better manage risk and focus on existing customers. There was ongoing investment in the utilities and the public sector verticals, where demand is high for services that enhance efficiency and provide revenue assurance.
Decision Analytics
Total revenue at constant exchange rates and organic revenue declined by 8%. Market conditions remained challenging during the period. Performance was impacted by lower origination volumes, reduced financial services spending on major software installations and by the switch of collections software to an annual licence model (consistent with other Experian software products). Client needs continue to be focused on risk management, including collections and fraud prevention.
Marketing Services
Total revenue in Marketing Services decreased by 4% at constant exchange rates. Organic revenue declined by 3%. The variance is due to transactional foreign exchange differences. New media marketing performed well, largely offsetting declines in more traditional marketing activities. New media channels, such as email, benefited from market growth as clients place greater emphasis on strategic, analytical and data integration products, as well as from new business wins. More traditional activities continued to be affected by the challenging external environment.
Interactive
Interactive delivered very strong growth, with total revenue growth at constant exchange rates and organic revenue growth of 51%. This reflected strength in membership subscriptions.
Financial review
Revenue from continuing activities was US$387m, in line with prior year at constant exchange rates. Organic revenue was flat.
EBIT from continuing activities was US$106m, up 5% at constant exchange rates. The EBIT margin expanded by 160 basis points to 27.4%, principally reflecting strong execution on cost efficiency initiatives.