Experian is near the max

Credit-checking specialist Experian grew organic sales 10 per cent in the year as an increased focus on scrutinising consumers' creditworthiness helped boost demand. Moreover, Experian's growth prospects are being helped by diversification efforts away from more mature markets - although that involved $1.24bn (£770m) of capital expenditure and acquisitions during the period. Still, the toppy share price rating is leaving those prospects looking factored in.

It's actually Latin America that's really fuelling growth, with Brazil again showing its importance as a rising economy - Experian's Latin American credit service sales rose 23 per cent to $891m. What's more, better US lending conditions were also an important factor, with improved demand for credit services there driving sales up 7 per cent to $791m - that helped lift total North American sales to over $2bn. Meanwhile, the group's problem markets were in Europe, which is again mired in debt contagion fears. True, the Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific operations did grow revenues 7 per cent to $608m, but sales in the same regions at the business-focused decision analytics unit fell 7 per cent to $129m as projects were deferred.

Prior to these figures, Charles Stanley was expecting adjusted pre-tax profit of $1.25bn for 2013, giving EPS of 90¢.

visible-status-Standard story-url-Experian prelims 2012 10 May 2012.xml