Experian H2 Earnings Call Highlights

Key Points

• Experian posted a “record year” for FY2026, with 8% organic revenue growth, 60 basis points of constant-currency margin expansion, and 15% benchmark EPS growth, all ahead of guidance. The company also generated strong cash flow and ended with net debt at 1.7x benchmark EBITDA.
• Shareholder returns are increasing as Experian announced a new GBP 1 billion buyback on top of the GBP 1 billion program announced earlier this year, and raised the full-year dividend by 11%. The company returned GBP 1.3 billion to shareholders during the year through dividends and repurchases.
• North America and AI-led platforms are key growth drivers, with North America delivering 10% organic revenue growth and Experian highlighting more than GBP 15 billion of AI-linked addressable market opportunity. Management says its Ascend platform, consumer data assets and partnerships like ServiceNow are supporting cross-selling, productivity and future growth.

Experian LON: EXPN reported what Chief Executive Officer Brian Cassin called a “record year” for the year ended March 31, 2026, with organic revenue growth at the top end of expectations, margin expansion ahead of guidance and a new GBP 1 billion share buyback program.

Cassin said the company delivered 8% organic revenue growth for the year, rising to 9% in the fourth quarter, supported by client wins, renewals and growth from new products. He said margins expanded by 60 basis points at constant currency, ahead of guidance for 30 to 50 basis points, while benchmark EPS grew 15%.

Lloyd Pitchford, who presented the financial overview, said revenue from ongoing activities increased 13% at actual rates and 11% at constant rates, while benchmark EBIT from ongoing activities rose 15% at actual rates and 13% at constant rates to more than GBP 2.4 billion. Benchmark EBIT margin increased to 28.6%, with organic constant currency margin expansion of 90 basis points.

Pitchford said benchmark operating cash flow exceeded GBP 2.2 billion, and return on capital employed rose to 17.2%. The company ended the year with net debt to benchmark EBITDA of 1.7 times.

Shareholder Returns Increase

Experian announced an additional GBP 1 billion share repurchase program, adding to the GBP 1 billion buyback announced in January. Pitchford said the company had spent roughly half of the January program by March 31, reducing the year-end share count to 899 million.

The board also approved an 11% increase in the full-year dividend. Pitchford said the company returned GBP 0.6 billion to shareholders through dividends and GBP 0.7 billion through share repurchases during the year.

Cassin said Experian was “successfully combining investment in the business with shareholder returns,” pointing to continued cash generation and disciplined capital allocation.

North America Leads Growth

North America delivered 10% organic revenue growth, led by business-to-business operations and a strong performance in financial services. Cassin said Experian renewed all large strategic accounts that were up for renewal in the region, with higher contract values and longer terms.

Pitchford said North America revenue grew by more than half a billion dollars to $5.6 billion. Financial services grew 14% for the year, while core financial services excluding mortgage grew 9% in each half and 10% in the fourth quarter.

Mortgage revenue rose 45% for the year on a slight decline in volumes, Pitchford said. In response to an analyst question, he said fourth-quarter mortgage revenue growth was in the mid-40% range on a slight volume increase, but Experian expects volumes to decline slightly in the new year given interest-rate movements. He said the company is not assuming structural changes to the mortgage market in its FY2027 guidance.

Experian also reported continued growth in its North America verticals business, which Pitchford said now represents more than $1.5 billion in revenue. Healthcare grew 9% organically, helped by Patient Access Curator, while automotive delivered 13% organic growth. Cassin said AutoCheck is now the exclusive provider across nearly every major U.S. auto online shopping site.

Consumer Services and Regional Performance

Cassin said Experian’s consumer services membership expanded to more than 215 million globally. He described the audience as a “significant asset” and said the company is increasingly linking its business-to-business and consumer capabilities to create differentiated propositions.

North America consumer services revenue grew 6% organically to more than $1.7 billion, Pitchford said. Paid membership grew 2% for the year, while the marketplace business grew more than 20%. Partner solutions declined modestly, partly due to the wind-down of two long-term data breach services contracts, which had represented about $20 million in quarterly revenue.

In Latin America, revenue grew 8% organically for the year and 17% in the fourth quarter. Pitchford said B2B growth improved to 12% in the fourth quarter after growing 3% for the full year, helped by fraud, identity, telco wins, biometrics and new products. Consumer services in the region grew 23% for the full year and 33% in the fourth quarter, reaching more than $300 million in annual revenue.

During the question-and-answer session, Pitchford said Experian expects Latin America to return to around double-digit growth in the quarters ahead, with consumer services continuing to grow at about the 20% level.

The U.K. and Ireland grew 2% for the year, with double-digit growth in consumer services across all four quarters. EMEA and Asia-Pacific grew 5%, while total revenue rose 17%, supported by the integration of illion and synergy delivery.

AI and Platform Strategy

Cassin said Experian is using generative AI to accelerate its strategy, improve productivity and develop new products. He said organic full-time employee growth has been broadly flat across FY2025 and FY2026, while AI and cloud migration have supported labor productivity gains.

Experian has identified more than GBP 15 billion of incremental total addressable market tied to AI-enabled use cases, Cassin said. Examples include healthcare applications, Experian Agent Trust, new Ascend modules and partnerships with platforms such as ServiceNow.

Cassin said Experian signed a partnership with ServiceNow to embed and deliver fraud capabilities using Model Context Protocol. He also highlighted Know Your Agent, an initiative announced with Visa, Skyfire and Cloudflare, which is intended to help link agent-driven commerce transactions to verified humans.

Ascend remained a key platform in the company’s strategy. Cassin said Experian now has more than 2,300 client solutions and 37 products on Ascend, with more than 10% of group revenue running on the platform. He said Ascend is helping deepen client relationships, extend contract duration and support cross-selling.

Asked about AI disruption, Cassin said Experian views AI as an opportunity and is not seeing a reduction in demand for its capabilities. He cited large-account renewals as evidence that clients continue to value Experian’s data, analytics, decisioning and fraud products.

FY2027 Outlook

Experian expects total reported revenue growth of 8% to 11% at actual rates in FY2027, including organic revenue growth of 6% to 8%. Pitchford said the company expects to start the year around the middle of that organic growth range.

Completed acquisitions are expected to add about 1 percentage point to revenue growth. The company expects benchmark EBIT margin progression of 50 basis points at constant exchange rates, supported by operating leverage, productivity benefits, scaling in consumer services and lower technology dual-run costs.

Pitchford said the guidance also incorporates headwinds from FICO mortgage royalties and the wind-down of the data breach contracts. He said Experian expects another year of double-digit benchmark EPS growth, benchmark operating cash flow conversion above 90%, capital expenditure around 8% of revenue and a benchmark tax rate of about 26%.

Cassin closed by saying Experian’s platforms, client relationships, consumer audience and AI initiatives give the company confidence in its next phase of growth.

About Experian LON: EXPN

Experian is a global data and technology company, powering opportunities for people and businesses around the world. We help to redefine lending practices, uncover and prevent fraud, simplify healthcare, deliver digital marketing solutions, and gain deeper insights into the automotive market, all using our unique combination of data, analytics and software. We also assist millions of people to realise their financial goals and help them to save time and money. We operate across a range of markets, from financial services to healthcare, automotive, agrifinance, insurance, and many more industry segments. We invest in talented people and new advanced technologies to unlock the power of data and to innovate.

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