Experian hikes dividend as profit jumps
Credit information group Experian hiked its interim dividend and said it continued to look at ways of returning cash to shareholders after a stronger than expected first half.
“We will continue to evaluate options for returning surplus cash to shareholders,” the company said in a statement after raising its first interim dividend by 29 per cent to nine cents a share.
Experian, best known for running consumer checks for banks, responded to pressure to unlock its cash reserves in May with a share buyback and said that the £220m programme remained on track.
The FTSE 100 listed company said benchmark first half profit before tax rose 12 per cent to £283m as economic recovery and emerging markets helped boost revenue by eight per cent
“For the year as a whole, we expect to deliver similar rates of organic revenue growth to the first half, and we are targeting modest improvement in our EBIT margin,” said chief executive Don Robert.