Experian woes give DunnHumby clue

The reasoning behind Experian’s interest in DunnHumby has been laid bare in the firm’s latest interim results, which show the firm is struggling for growth in its core marketing business in both the UK and US markets.
The UK business still dwarfs Callcredit, which may have seen a huge rise in profits year on year but has a turnover of £125m, compared to Experian’s which is closer to $1bn (£640m) through its four UK divisions.
However, most of the growth is coming from credit services. Experian has seen an 8% rise in income from its consumer credit division – to $263m (£168m) – and a 7% rise in business credit services to $270m (£172m).
But marketing services inched up only 1% to $235m (£150m) in the UK, while decision analytics increased 3% from to $224m (£143m).
Meanwhile in the States, credit services went up 17% to $1.1bn (£700m) and marketing services were flat at $432m (£276m). Decision analytics did fare better, rising 9% to $194m (£124m).
Earlier this week, DecisionMarketing revealed Experian was considering an 11th-hour bid for DunnHumby, which runs Tesco Clubcard and works for more than 400 brands globally. If successful, this would not only inject a huge amount of money into both these divisions, it would also give the data giant a platform to kick-start its international growth.
On a global basis, Experian has blamed a rebrand in the US and currency swings in Brazil, where it makes a fifth of its revenues, for a slight drop in yearly revenues and profits.
Revenues rose 3% in the final three months of its financial year, following three flat quarters. Overall revenues fell 0.6% to $4.8bn (£3bn) in the year to the end of March, while pre-tax profits before one-off items were steady at $1.23bn (£790m).
Experian global chief executive Brian Cassin said: “We have accomplished a lot in what has been an important year of transition for Experian. We delivered strong growth across many parts of the business, have made further progress with earnings and are increasing returns to shareholders. We finished the year well.”