Experian shares surge as revenue rises to $2.5bn
Consumer credit giant Experian today posted revenue growth of seven per cent for the first half of 2019, with profit growing to $480m from $470m in 2018.
Revenue grew to $2.5bn in the period, up from $2.36bn in 2018.
Read more: Experian posts 2019 profit rise helped by global growth
The information services group narrowed their guidance for the year to seven to eight per cent, the upper range of previous estimates.
The company said that good momentum in North America, double-digit revenue growth in Latin America and an acceleration in global business to business platforms such as Ascend had helped was responsible for the growth.
Chief executive officer Brian Cassin said: “This reflects successful execution on big new addressable market opportunities, the global roll out of our innovative platforms and considerable momentum in Consumer Services as we invest in Experian Boost.”
The company also saw users of its website for checking credit scores for free rise 56 per cent, from 45m in 2018 to 70m in 2019.
Nicholas Hyett, equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “Strong growth from Experian’s Consumer divisions is a big deal – not so long ago revenues were in freefall after rival free credit checking services made Experian’s subscription model all but redundant.
“In its place Experian’s focused on a credit matching service which pairs consumers with an appropriate loan or credit card. The launch of Experian Boost seems to have been a masterstroke.”
Experian Ascend, a platform that integrates client data, industry-specific data feeds and analytics, machine learning and artificial intelligence, has reached a value of $270m across the USA, UK, Brazil and Italy.
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The blue-chip announced a number of acquisitions for the period, including South Africa’s Compuscan credit information company, as well as the remaining 45 per cent of subsidiary body Experian MicroAnalytics.
Experian competes with smaller players Equifax and TransUnion. Both have reported estimate-beating results for the last quarter.
The company announced a first interim dividend of 14.5 cents per share, up four per cent. In early trading shares in the company were up 2.1 per cent to 2,431p.
Main image credit: Getty