Experian 2015 Annual Report Download - page 26

Chief Executive’s review
As expected, organic revenue improved
as we exited the year. For the year, total
revenue growth from continuing activities
was 1% at actual rates, 3% at constant
exchange rates, and organic revenue
growth was 1%. This represented flat
organic revenue in the first three quarters
of the year and 3% in the final quarter,
with the uplift coming mainly from
improved performances in North
America Consumer Services and
Decision Analytics.
We saw strong growth during the year
from North America Credit Services, the
UK and Ireland, and across Asia Pacific.
Latin America showed good progress
despite the subdued economy in Brazil,
and whilst North America Consumer
Services was a headwind, we’ve made
further progress towards transforming our
consumer proposition and leveraging the
Experian.com brand.
We generated significant cash flow during
the year, enabling us to support our growth
ambitions, announce increasing returns
to shareholders and reduce net debt. We
grew Benchmark EPS by 8%, at constant
exchange rates and 4% at actual rates,
increased equity dividends by 5%, and
reduced net debt by US$592m, while
continuing to invest for growth.
Regional highlights
North America
In North America, we made further progress
across Credit Services and Decision
Analytics; Marketing Services was stable
and we’ve taken a number of important steps
to reposition Consumer Services.
Our core consumer bureau continued
to perform well as the environment for
lending improved with steady expansion
in volumes. Performance was further
boosted by strong growth across the
non-consumer bureau component, now
accounting for around 40% of Credit
Services revenue in North America.
Business information recovered well,
following the actions we’ve taken to
strengthen and refocus our activities.
Automotive had another outstanding year
as we increase market penetration with
dealers, manufacturers and auto-lenders,
and I’m delighted with the progress
we’ve made in health, where Passport
has exceeded our expectations. The
integration of Passport has gone smoothly
and we’re seeing significant growth in
both bookings and implementations as
we expand our position with existing
hospital and physician clients and add
new ones. We’re also laying foundations
to expand our product range, to address
new healthcare segments in the future.
Decision Analytics had another solid
year, fuelled by significant software
deals, and we’re making considerable
progress in analytics, as lending activity
picks up and clients seek tools to refine
their decision making and ability to
segment the market effectively.
In Marketing Services, we saw strong growth
in cross-channel marketing offset by some
attrition on legacy email products. We’re
making steady progress in cross-channel,
with a good pipeline of prospects which
we’ll seek to convert over the coming year.
We’re encouraged by progress in North
America Consumer Services. Whilst
uncertainty remains and we continue
to invest in the brand and products to
move the business forward, we believe
we have passed the peak rate of decline.
Our strategy is focused on transforming
our consumer offering by differentiating
ourselves as a data owner and providing
a compelling consumer experience, while
also using our firepower in consumer
marketing to make Experian.com the
principal brand for consumers. Key
milestones in the year included making
FICO scores available to consumers
through Experian.com, which we launched
in December 2014. Response rates since
have been favourable, with an increase in
membership revenue for Experian.com of
14% year-on-year in the fourth quarter of
the year. A further development took place
in March when we successfully migrated
freecreditreport.com customers to
Experian.com. This was an important step
as we seek to simplify our platforms and
to generate operational efficiencies. Over
the coming year we expect to introduce
additional functionality in order to further
enhance the consumer experience,
and with this we expect to make further
steady progress throughout the year
ending 31 March 2016 in North America
Consumer Services.
Brian Cassin Chief Executive Officer
“ I am pleased to report that we achieved a positive
outcome during a year of transition for Experian.
Earlier this year, we laid out five key strategic priorities
to position the Group for sustained growth and we’re
executing well against the key elements of our plan.”
Introduction
24 •Strategic report Chief Executive’s review