Experian 2007 Annual Report Download - page 26

Experian Americas
24 | Experian Annual Report 2007
Operational review
Experian Americas delivered a strong
performance, more than offsetting
challenges in some markets. There
was excellent EBIT margin
progression, with all principal
activities improving year-over-year.
Credit Services
Includes consumer credit and business information
bureaux in the US and Canada, commercial lending
software and automotive services
Sales in Credit Services were up 5% in total during the
year, up 3% on an organic basis. Against tough
comparatives in 2006 (H1 2005/6 +18%, H2 +9%),
consumer credit services performed well, improving as
the year progressed. During the year, the business
demonstrated its resilience as clients shifted spend
towards account management and collections. Latterly
there has been improvement in customer acquisition
activity. Business information delivered a good
performance, reflecting expanded relationships with
several top ten banks and robust double-digit growth in
portfolio management products. Automotive did well on
the back of increased traction of its AutoCheck vehicle
history report and Autocount products. AutoCheck, for
example, secured a significant renewal from eBay
Motors. There was strong double-digit growth from
Baker Hill’s commercial lending software as it leveraged
Experian’s business information relationships.
VantageScore, the new credit score jointly developed by
the three US credit bureaux, has performed well in its first
year of deployment and to date has secured over 1,300
clients in test. The integration of the Canadian consumer
database, acquired in September 2006, is proceeding well
and is on track for launch later this year. While small, this
will enhance the service offered to Experian’s US clients,
many of whom are active in Canada.
Decision Analytics
Includes credit analytics, decision support
software and fraud solutions
Decision Analytics performed particularly well over the
year, with sales up 29%, reflecting increased market
penetration of both decision support software and fraud
prevention tools. The relationship with Bank of America
has continued to develop, as Experian becomes a
provider of enterprise-wide solutions, supporting Bank of
America across its credit and deposit products.
Fraud prevention delivered very strong double-digit
growth, as demand for Experian’s identity verification
solutions has increased, driven by the launch of Precise
ID, its new fraud detection product. There was increased
adoption amongst financial services companies and a
major client win in the Internet payment space.
Marketing Solutions
Includes data and data management (consumer data,
list processing and data integrity (including QAS),
database management and analytics), digital services
(CheetahMail), research services (Simmons and Vente),
and business strategies
Sales in Marketing Solutions were flat year-on-year and
marginally down (2%) on an organic basis. Marketing
Solutions continues to show divergent trends, with
declines in the traditional activities (consumer data, list
processing and database management), offsetting very
strong double-digit sales growth across Digital Services,
Research Services and QAS. Traditional activities, which
in the year still accounted for over 50% of Marketing
Solutions sales, have been impacted by the secular shift
in marketing spend to new digital channels.
Progress in the newer marketing areas is highly
encouraging. For example, CheetahMail delivered record
email volumes during the year (20 billion permission-
based messages), Simmons delivered strong growth in
syndicated research sales following new client wins and
QAS’ early foothold in the US has expanded rapidly.
Introduction | Business review | Governance | Financial statements
29
%
Sales in Decision
Analytics in Experian
Americas were
up 29%