Experian 2010 Annual Report Download - page 6

Experian Annual Report 2010 Introduction4
Interview with Don Robert, CEO
What will Experian look like in ve
years’ time?
We’ll be bigger, of course, with a
presence in more countries. Experian
already delivers services into over
90 countries and I fully expect this to
grow. Some countries, where we are
now only starting to build a presence,
will become a lot more important to
us strategically. We’ll also be rmly
established across more market
segments, building on the strong
foundation we have within the
nancial services sector. Our larger
clients will be buying more of our
products and services, as we become
increasingly vital to them. And while
I expect us to be supporting more
organisations on a global basis, we’ll
also be delivering more services to
smaller businesses, such as we’re
now doing in Brazil. And, of course,
we’ll be offering more services to
the consumer, helping them keep
control of their personal and nancial
information.
What’s your view on how to use the
cash that Experian generates?
I recognise that Experian is highly
cash generative and that one of our
overriding responsibilities must be to
use this cash wisely. The balance we
strike is between ensuring the safety
and soundness of our business,
investing for the future and returning
surpluses to shareholders. Over the
past two years we have reduced our
indebtedness, without letting up
on the investment that is so vital to
sustain our leadership position and
growth prospects. The strength of
our cash generation means we are
now in a position to enhance returns
to shareholders and I’m delighted that
the Board has decided to do this by
increasing our dividend payout ratio
and introducing a share buyback.
Where are the best growth
opportunities for Experian?
Experian has never been short of
opportunities and, in many ways, the
hard bit is ensuring we concentrate
our efforts and resources on the best
of these. Near-term opportunities
include taking our existing global
products into new geographies,
such as we’re doing in Asia Pacic
and Brazil. We see particularly
good growth potential for our fraud
prevention and identity management
tools. In the medium term, we’re
excited by the growth potential in new
vertical markets, such as the public
sector, telecommunications and US
healthcare payments. In the longer
term, we’re focused on laying the
foundations for the next generation
of growth. Our new credit bureau
venture in India is an example of this
and we’re also evaluating bureau
opportunities in other markets around
the world.
How does Experian manage its
global business?
We have invested a lot of energy
in ensuring we have the right
organisational structure for our
global business. The particular
organisational design we’ve
implemented addresses the fact that
we have to manage both geographies
and product lines. Experian serves
clients across multiple geographies
and many of our growth opportunities
are in fast-growing emerging markets,
so we draw our talent from a very
diverse pool in order to best serve
our customers, wherever they are.
We place great store on the strength
of our leadership team and on
succession planning. We always try to
promote from within and to encourage
mobility and a breadth of experience.
Strong leadership is vital to the
successful delivery of our strategy,
but we also depend on our people’s
strong sense of engagement with the
wider business. We listen hard and
always act on the feedback we receive.
We want Experian to be a truly great
place to work.
How has Experian been affected by
the global economic downturn?
Conditions in some of our major
markets have certainly been
challenging, but we adapted quickly to
the changing priorities of our clients
and worked hard on reducing our
costs. It enabled us to keep growing
throughout the crisis. We achieved
organic revenue growth in each
quarter and increased our prots.
We were also successful in reducing
our debt levels, while still investing
in the business. I’m very proud of
this performance and I believe it sets
Experian apart as a company. The
balance and diversity in our portfolio,
our globally leading market position
and the signicant efforts of our
people all contributed to this.
What are the biggest challenges for
Experian today?
The big challenge now is to return
our business to the kind of growth
rates we know we’re capable of. Our
major markets are showing signs of
stabilisation and recovery, but we’re
not going to rely solely on this. We’re
taking control of growth by focusing
our efforts on a series of high-impact
initiatives. Firstly, we’re doing more
to expand our global reach into key
vertical markets and geographies.
Secondly, we’re investing in world
class data and analytics - it’s why
organisations come to us and we
never lose sight of this. And, nally,
we’re making sure that our sales
teams and infrastructure are best in
class and that we continue to be the
best possible partner to our clients.
Q&A
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