Solid first half from Experian

Mature western markets may be slowing slightly, but a focus on emerging markets and new products is still delivering results for the market leader in creditworthiness checking. The fastest growing market remains Latin America, which reported a 17 per cent rise in organic sales to $499m. In the core North American market, accounting for almost half of group turnover, underlying sales increased by 7 per cent to $1.1bn as lending conditions improved and demand for fraud and identity checks grew rapidly. In the UK and Ireland, where consumer credit markets remain tight, sales growth was a more anaemic 3 per cent.

Experian is not immune to the uncertain market conditions and announced an efficiency programme to protect margins, which will cost $110m over the next couple of years to implement and deliver savings of $75m a year by 2015. Analysts at Seymour Pierce expect to downgrade forecasts slightly to reflect currency movements and anticipate full-year adjusted pre-tax profits of $1.25bn and EPS of 88.9¢ (from $1.19bn and 78.9¢ for 2012).