Experian's profits below expectations

Experian, the credit check and financial data company, has reported underlying earnings below expectations for the full year to the end of March, while announcing the sale of its PriceGrabber price comparison service.

Earnings before interest and tax came in at $1.175bn against a consensus forecast of $1.191bn. Benchmark profit before tax was $1.128bn, again below the consensus of $1.136bn. Earnings per share came in at 78.9 cents per share against a consensus forecast of 90.5 cents.

The sale of PriceGrabber, plus the disposal of US lead-generation brands Classes USA and LowerMyBills will raise $175m.

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Experian says the businesses are not core to its activities and expects to complete the transaction by September, with the proceeds being used to pay down debt.

Don Robert, Chief Executive Officer, commented: "...through the agreement to divest certain non-core activities, we have further sharpened our strategic focus on data and analytics."

The full year dividend was confirmed at 32 cents per share, just about in line with expectations

The market was unimpressed. The shares had fallen around 3% by 08:17.

BS