Appendix

1. Sales and EBIT by principal activity

2. Use of non-GAAP financial information

Experian has identified certain measures that it believes will assist understanding of the performance of the business. As the measures are not defined under IFRS they may not be directly comparable with other companies’ adjusted measures. The non-GAAP measures are not intended to be a substitute for, or superior to, any IFRS measures of performance but management have included them as these are considered to be important comparables and key measures used within the business for assessing performance.

The following are the key non-GAAP measures identified by Experian:

Benchmark profit before tax ('Benchmark PBT'): Benchmark PBT is defined as profit before amortisation of acquisition intangibles, goodwill impairments, charges in respect of the demerger-related equity incentive plans, exceptional items, financing fair value remeasurements and taxation. It includes Experian’s share of pre-tax profits of associates.

Earnings before interest and tax ('EBIT'): EBIT is defined as profit before amortisation of acquisition intangibles, goodwill impairments, charges in respect of the demerger-related equity incentive plans, exceptional items, net financing costs and taxation. It includes Experian’s share of pre-tax profits of associates.

Exceptional items: The separate reporting of non-recurring items gives an indication of Experian’s underlying performance. Exceptional items are those arising from the profit or loss on disposal of businesses or closure costs of material business units. All other restructuring costs have been charged against EBIT in the segments in which they are incurred.

Discontinuing activities: Experian defines discontinuing activities as businesses sold, closed or identified for closure during a financial year. These are treated as discontinuing activities for both sales and EBIT purposes. Prior periods, where shown, are restated to exclude the results on discontinuing activities. This financial measure differs from the definition of discontinued operations set out in IFRS 5 (Non-current assets held for sale and discontinued operations). Under IFRS 5, a discontinued operation is: (i) a separate major line of business or geographical area of operations; (ii) part of a single plan to dispose of a major line of business or geographical area of operations; or (iii) a subsidiary acquired exclusively with a view to resale.

Continuing activities: Businesses trading at 30 September 2007 that have not been disclosed as discontinuing activities are treated as continuing activities.

Organic growth: This is the year-on-year change in continuing activities sales, at constant exchange rates, excluding acquisitions (other than affiliate credit bureaux) until the first anniversary date of consolidation.

Direct business: Direct business refers to Experian’s business exclusive of the financial results of FARES.

Constant currency: In order to illustrate its organic performance, Experian discusses its results in terms of constant exchange rate growth, unless otherwise stated. This represents growth calculated as if the exchange rates used to determine the results had remained unchanged from those used in the previous year.

3. Reconciliation of sales and EBIT by geography

4. Overview of structure of financial information

On 10 October 2006, the separation of Experian and Home Retail Group was completed by way of demerger. As part of this transaction, Experian Group Limited became the ultimate holding company of GUS plc and related subsidiaries. Experian Group Limited accounted for its insertion at the top of the group in accordance with the principles of merger accounting.

As a result of the demerger, there are a number of presentational changes to the financial information as previously reported in the interim results released on 21 November 2006 and these are detailed in note 1 to the unaudited condensed Group half-yearly financial statements.

The reported interest in the six months ended 30 September 2006 reflected the pre-demerger structure, prior to the receipt of the IPO proceeds. The interest for that period is therefore not comparable with the current year or representative of future periods.

For the purposes of comparability a pro forma interest expense for the six months ended 30 September 2006 is included. The adjustment of $44m between reported net interest expense ($74m) and pro forma net interest expense ($30m) in the six months ended 30 September 2006 includes the impact on the pro forma net interest expense of assuming that the new equity of £800m raised at the demerger had been issued at 1 April 2006. The financial impact of this is an adjustment to interest of $35m. In addition $9m of interest on bank balances managed centrally on a pooled basis is reported within discontinued activities and is also accordingly eliminated in arriving at the pro forma net interest expense.

Top of page