Experian Regulatory News (EXPN)

news release

Preliminary results for the year ended 31 March 2017

7am, 18 May 2017 ─ Experian plc, the global information services company, today issues its financial results for the year ended 31 March 2017.

General highlights - Ongoing operations (excluding CCM discontinued operations)

· 6% total revenue growth, 5% organic revenue growth at constant currency, consistent with our target range.

· On an ongoing activities basis Benchmark EBIT margin was up 60 basis points to 27.7%1, up 30 basis points at constant currency and Benchmark EBIT growth was 7% at constant currency.

· Strategy translating into results; significant growth opportunities emerging over the medium term.

· Strong growth across the B2B areas of Credit Services, Decision Analytics and Marketing Services.

· Growth across all regions, with particular strength in Latin America and EMEA/Asia Pacific.

· Considerable progress made towards repositioning Consumer Services, now securing millions of free members to engage with new offers.

· Portfolio focus further sharpened, following agreement to sell the email/cross channel marketing business.

· Continuing strong commitment to shareholder returns:

· Over US$700m returned to shareholders in the year via dividend and share repurchases.

· Second interim dividend up 4% to 28.5 US cents per ordinary share; total dividend for FY17 up 4% to 41.5 US cents per share.

· Share repurchase programme of US$600m to be executed during FY18.

Statutory financial highlights Benchmark financial highlights1,2

1 Benchmark metrics exclude the discontinued operations of email/cross-channel marketing and prior year comparatives have been restated to reflect the transaction. Reconciliation of Benchmark financial metrics including and excluding email/cross channel marketing can be found on page 2. 2 Revenue from ongoing activities. See Appendix 1 on page 14 and note 5 to the Group financial statements on pages 25-6 for definitions of non-GAAP measures.

3 See page 7 for reconciliation of Benchmark EBIT from ongoing activities to Benchmark EBIT.

Brian Cassin, Chief Executive Officer, commented:

"It has been a good year for Experian. We have made considerable progress strategically, operationally and financially. Our portfolio is sharper and we are continuing to invest to drive growth through innovative products and new services. We have also returned significant capital to our shareholders.

"As we look ahead, our sector is vibrant. Clients are seeking new ways to combine and analyse vast quantities of data to drive better business outcomes and consumers want to better understand and protect their financial status. This plays to our core strengths and is opening up many new opportunities for Experian. Over the next 12-18 months we will continue to innovate and are introducing a wave of new products to bring fresh thinking and new services to meet this demand.

"As we look ahead, we expect to sustain good momentum in our financial performance and we anticipate another year of good growth, within our target mid single-digit organic revenue growth range, with stable margins and further progress in Benchmark earnings per share.

Impact of Email/Cross-Channel Marketing Divestment

On 3 April 2017, we announced the agreed divestment of 75% of email/cross channel marketing ('CCM') which have been reclassified as discontinued activities for FY17. In the table below we show Benchmark financial metrics including and excluding CCM.

Contacts

Experian

Brian Cassin Chief Executive Officer +44 (0)20 3042 4215

Lloyd Pitchford Chief Financial Officer

Andrew Simms Head of Investor Relations

Gerry Tschopp Senior VP, Group Communications

Finsbury

Rollo Head +44 (0)20 7251 3801

Jenny Davey

There will be a presentation today at 9.30am (UK time) to analysts and investors at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch Financial Centre, 2 King Edward Street, London, EC1A 1HQ. The presentation can be viewed live via the link from the Experian website at www.experianplc.com and can also be accessed live via a telephone dial-in facility: +44 844 800 3850 (UK and International) or +44 208 996 3900 (all others), using access code 20337137. The supporting slides and an indexed replay will be available on the website later in the day.

Experian will update on first quarter trading for FY18 on 18 July 2017.

Certain financial data have been rounded within this announcement. As a result of this rounding, the totals of data presented may vary slightly from the actual arithmetic totals of such data.

Forward looking statements

Certain statements made in this announcement are forward looking statements. Such statements are based on current expectations and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from any expected future events or results referred to in these forward looking statements. See note 27 to the financial statements for further information on risks and uncertainties facing Experian.

Company website

Neither the content of the Company's website, nor the content of any website accessible from hyperlinks on the Company's website (or any other website), is incorporated into, or forms part of, this announcement.

About Experian

Experian is the world's leading global information services company. During life's big moments - from buying a home or a car, to sending a child to college, to growing a business by connecting with new customers - we empower consumers and our clients to manage their data with confidence. We help individuals to take financial control and access financial services, businesses to make smarter decisions and thrive, lenders to lend more responsibly, and organisations to prevent identity fraud and crime.

We have 16,000 people operating across 37 countries and every day we're investing in new technologies, talented people and innovation to help all our clients maximize every opportunity. We are listed on the London Stock Exchange (EXPN) and are a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.

Learn more at www.experianplc.com or visit our global content hub at our global news blog for the latest news and insights from the Group.

Chief Executive Officer's review

We have made considerable progress over the past year executing against our strategy and this is translating into good financial and operating results. We delivered total revenue growth of 6% at constant currency, organic revenue growth of 5%, consistent with our mid single-digit target range, and we are well placed to capture further opportunities to sustain momentum.

Highlights this year include:

· We made strong progress against our five strategic priorities:

o Our portfolio is sharper and more focused following the agreed sale of email/cross-channel marketing (CCM) and we are driving growth from the strong synergies that exist across our portfolio.

o Our Business-to-Business (B2B) activities performed well, with strong organic revenue growth across Credit Services, Decision Analytics and Marketing Services.

o Transformation of Consumer Services is gathering pace. We now have millions of consumers signed up for free membership offers. This gives us a large and fast growing audience of consumers to engage with our new credit and identity offers.

o We have increased investment in new sources of data, advanced analytics and decisioning products and in innovative new solutions in order to address significant market opportunities and we enter FY18 with a range of new products to sustain momentum.

o We returned US$734m in total to shareholders through dividends and net share repurchases, and today announce a US$600m repurchase programme to be executed during FY18.

· Our actions have resulted in a strong performance for the year, with organic revenue growth of 5%, total growth of 6% and growth at actual foreign exchange rates of 4%. We have expanded margins, which have increased to 27.7%, up by 60 basis points at actual rates and up 30 basis points at constant exchange rates, to deliver Benchmark EBIT growth of 7% at constant exchange rates (all on an ongoing activities basis);

· Before the restatement for CCM, Group organic revenue growth was 4% for the year and the EBIT margin was flat at constant currency, in line with our previous guidance.

Regional highlights

North America

We delivered a solid performance in North America, with total revenue growth of 7% and organic revenue growth of 5%, reflecting strength in B2B partially offset by the transition we are undertaking in Consumer Services.

We saw good progress across our B2B activities reflecting generally stable conditions for consumer and business lending as well as a good reception by clients for some of our newly introduced services. These include new propositions which help lenders to target and acquire customers more efficiently in the digital sphere, new decisioning services which greatly accelerate the speed at which risk and fraud prevention analysis can be conducted, and as we introduce additional functionality to help our clients address the credit needs of a broader spectrum of consumers and businesses. Our strategy to expand in newer market segments continues to produce results, with strong growth in health fuelled by new deals with healthcare providers and as we secure further growth from existing clients through cross-selling. For the year as a whole we delivered further growth in automotive, with some tightening of credit standards evident towards the latter part of the year.

In Consumer Services, we are growing a substantial audience of consumers by offering free access to credit monitoring and scores. Free memberships reached 9 million at the end of the year, out of a total of approximately 11 million members, and up from 3 million free members in the previous year. We have recently launched a major marketing campaign to introduce a new premium identity protection service called IdentityWorks, which is based on the CSIdentity ('CSID') platform we acquired earlier in the year. We are also starting to scale LendingWorks, by adding more lenders, more loan and card offers and new features to help consumers easily compare prices for credit offers. While organic revenue declined modestly as a whole, referral fees have started to grow rapidly from a small base.

Latin America

We delivered another year of strong progress in Latin America, with organic revenue growth of 9%. The performance of our business in Brazil has been outstanding, delivering good growth despite a very difficult market. At the same time we have undertaken a significant programme of investment in Brazil to position ourselves for economic recovery to build on our leadership position in B2B while establishing new services for consumers. Growth in the year was driven by a number of factors, including counter-cyclical products such as delinquency notifications, expansion of our position with a number of the largest Brazilian banks and the introduction of additional services for small and medium enterprises. We also launched free services to help consumers better manage their credit, including the Serasa Score which helps to educate consumers about the benefits of positive data and improve consumer access to credit.

Regulatory changes are being discussed in Brazil which could accelerate the adoption of positive data by dropping the requirement for consumers to opt-in and instead allowing consumers to opt-out of the positive data collection process. We believe this would benefit Brazilian consumers and would provide new opportunities for better credit risk assessment through more widespread use of data. In anticipation of this regulatory change, we are accelerating development of products which incorporate positive data.

UK and Ireland

In the UK and Ireland, organic revenue increased 1%, reflecting a robust performance in B2B which offset a decline in direct-to-consumer.

The breadth of our offer in B2B is a major advantage, expanding our position within our traditional client base in financial services and opening up new opportunities for growth in areas such as energy, price comparison, wealth and pensions and financial technology services (fintech). During the year we introduced services which help lenders to pre-qualify consumers for credit, credit software which assists with account opening and customer management and new fraud prevention products. We also secured our first client wins for CrossCore, our new fraud detection and prevention platform. We benefited from strong take up of new digital marketing tools which use data and analytics to help clients advertise more effectively across social media and other digital platforms.

We took a number of important steps during the year to reposition Consumer Services. We are using the power of the Experian brand to drive consumer interest and engagement in our free score offer. We have attracted 1.7 million free customers since launch which is helping to drive awareness and usage of CreditMatcher, our price comparison service. Having initially launched CreditMatcher, which helps consumers to compare credit card offers, we have recently introduced an energy switching service as an extension to our offer. Early signs are encouraging, although the scale of our new offers is not yet sufficient to offset declines in our traditional credit monitoring subscription services and we expect this part of our business to decline during the coming year, with the rate of decline expected to moderate somewhat in the second half.

EMEA/Asia Pacific

EMEA/Asia Pacific performed strongly, delivering organic growth of 9%.

Strategically we have placed considerable emphasis on tightening the focus of our activities in EMEA/Asia Pacific. Having divested a number of businesses over the past two years we are now concentrated on fewer scalable markets. This more focused approach is yielding good results and we secured many significant wins during the year, ending the year with good momentum across both EMEA and Asia Pacific. This has given rise to strong revenue growth and significant progress towards profitability, even as we continue to invest to secure longer term opportunities in markets such as India and South East Asia.

Strategy update

Having successfully executed on many aspects of our strategy our portfolio is stronger and is growing faster with improved profitability. As we look ahead we are evolving our focus in order to capture new opportunities. We are aligning our strategy ever more closely to emerging client needs to deliver better digital customer experiences, to manage risks as effectively as possible and to protect against fraud, while also helping consumers to protect and manage their financial lives. These needs mean our customers seek new ways to combine, integrate and analyse data, which plays to Experian's strengths.

As part of our strategy we are:

· broadening and deepening our data assets through a range of data investments and partnerships;

· investing to extend our lead in enhanced analytics and advanced decisioning technologies to greatly enhance client experiences by providing quicker, more frictionless decision-making;

· transforming our relationships with consumers by enhancing the user experience and introducing new offers with greater choice of products which fit their individual needs;

· accelerating the rate and the pace at which we innovate, and will introduce a wide range of new and enhanced products over the coming 12-18 months;

· continuing to add scale in selected verticals and targeted geographies;

· continuing to invest in the foundations of our business including agile technology, client service excellence, our brand, talent and our One Experian approach.

The combination of our strategic priorities and the strength of our business foundations will help us to realise our ambition to deliver premium earnings growth and to deliver further value to all our stakeholders.

Benchmark EBIT margin

We continue to deliver growth in profitability alongside organic investment and our Benchmark EBIT margin from ongoing activities was 27.7%, up 60 basis points for the year, of which 30 basis points was accounted by a positive foreign exchange translation.

Cash generation and uses of cash

We have delivered another strong year of cash generation, with Benchmark EBIT conversion into Benchmark operating cash flow of 96%. Consistent with our capital allocation strategy, use of cash was balanced between organic investment, acquisitions and returns to shareholders. Benchmark operating cash flow was US$1,149m, with US$393m allocated to net organic capital investment. Acquisitions and investments represented US$432m, net share repurchases amounted to US$353m and equity dividends were US$381m.

We ended the year with net debt of US$3,173m, up US$150m, representing 2.1 times Benchmark EBITDA. This is at the lower end of our target leverage range of 2 to 2.5 times net debt to Benchmark EBITDA.

Return on capital employed

Return on capital employed for the year was 15.5% (2016: 15.4%). This represented organic improvement of 80 basis points, offset by a 50 basis point headwind from acquisitions and a 20 basis point headwind due to foreign exchange and other factors.

Dividend and share repurchases

We are announcing a second interim dividend of 28.5 US cents per share, up 4% on the prior year to bring the total for FY17 to 41.5 US cents per share, also up 4% on the prior year. This dividend will be paid on 21 July 2017 to shareholders on the register at the close of business on 23 June 2017. We also expect to execute share repurchases of US$600m in the forthcoming year.

Group financial results

Revenue by geography

1. 2016 restated for the divestment of the email/cross-channel marketing business.

See Appendix 2 (page 14) for analyses of revenue, Benchmark EBIT and Benchmark EBIT margin from ongoing activities by business segment.

Income statement, earnings and EBIT margin analysis

1. 2016 restated for the divestment of the email/cross-channel marketing business.

See Appendix 1 (page 14) and note 5 to the financial statements for definitions of non-GAAP measures.

See Appendix 2 (page 14) for analyses of revenue, Benchmark EBIT and Benchmark EBIT margin from ongoing activities by business segment.

Business review

North America

Total revenue from ongoing activities in North America was US$2,457m, with total revenue growth of 7% and organic revenue growth of 5%.

Credit Services

Total and organic revenue growth was 8% with growth across all business lines. In consumer information, we saw good growth in volumes in credit prospecting, origination, account management and mortgage. Business information also delivered good growth as we introduce new products. In health, we saw strong growth in new client bookings and good levels of cross selling of additional services to our existing client base including consumer authentication and collection services. Automotive delivered growth, although at more moderate rates, reflecting some tightening of lending standards across automotive lenders and less buoyant automotive sales.

Decision Analytics

Total and organic revenue was flat with significant new business wins in financial services and strength in analytics, offset by the non-renewal of a customer contract.

Marketing Services

Total and organic revenue increased 8% during the year with strong growth in targeting data driven by demand from digital advertisers and good growth in data quality services.

Consumer Services

Total revenue growth was 6%, reflecting the acquisition of CSID, with organic revenue down 2%. We saw growth in affinity partnerships and data breach services. Referral fees from price comparison services are also growing, from a small base. This was offset by churn in the legacy membership base.

Benchmark EBIT and EBIT margin

North America Benchmark EBIT from ongoing activities was US$781m, up 11%. The Benchmark EBIT margin from ongoing activities was 31.8%, up 110 basis points year-on-year reflecting positive operating leverage and the timing of product launches in Consumer Services.

Latin America

Total revenue from ongoing activities in Latin America was US$730m, with total and organic revenue growth of 9% at constant exchange rates.

Credit Services

At constant exchange rates, total and organic revenue growth was 6%. In Brazil, growth reflected strategic new business wins, growth across countercyclical products, including delinquency notifications services, and good growth in the SME channel. Spanish Latin America delivered another outstanding performance.

Decision Analytics

Total and organic revenue growth was 34% at constant exchange rates as we expand across the region and secured new contract wins and strong performances across software, analytics and fraud prevention services.

Marketing Services

Total and organic revenue at constant exchange rates increased 39%. We made good progress in Marketing Services with particular strength in targeting driven by our digital advertising initiatives and good demand for data quality services.

Benchmark EBIT and EBIT margin

Latin America Benchmark EBIT from ongoing activities was US$251m, up 3% at constant exchange rates. Benchmark EBIT margin from ongoing activities was 34.4% (2016: 35.8%) reflecting investment in new consumer offers in Brazil and dual running costs as we transferred some operations to our new facility in Sao Carlos. There was also a mix impact relating to growth in lower margin countercyclical products.

UK and Ireland

In the UK and Ireland, total revenue from ongoing activities was US$807m, with total and organic revenue growth of 1% at constant exchange rates.

Credit Services

Total and organic revenue at constant exchange rates increased 3%, driven by growth in credit reference volumes, credit pre-qualification services and background checking which drove growth across the banking, telecoms and utilities and other verticals, as well as further expansion in business information within the SME channel.

Decision Analytics

At constant exchange rates, both total and organic revenue increased 5%. Growth reflected strong demand for origination software as banks invest in infrastructure to enhance on-boarding of customers through digital channels.

Marketing Services

Total and organic revenue at constant exchange rates increased 5%. We saw good growth from new wins in targeting data across both traditional and newer digital marketing activities.

Consumer Services

At constant exchange rates, total and organic revenue declined by 9% as we continue to execute on our strategy to diversify our sources of revenue. There was strong progress in the affinity channel, reflecting good take up of scores-on-statements and strong growth in referral fees from newly introduced price comparison services. This was offset by attrition in the legacy subscription membership base.

Benchmark EBIT and EBIT margin

Benchmark EBIT from ongoing activities was US$246m, down 4% at constant exchange rates. Benchmark EBIT margin from ongoing activities was 30.5% (2016: 32.1%), reflecting organic growth investments, the transition of the Consumer Services business and increased legal and regulatory costs.

EMEA/Asia Pacific

Total revenue from ongoing activities in EMEA/Asia Pacific was US$341m, with total and organic revenue growth of 9% at constant exchange rates.

Credit Services

Total and organic revenue at constant exchange rates was 3% lower. Good growth in Spain, Italy and Southeast Asia was offset by weakness in bureaux in South Africa and Denmark. Our bureaux in India and Australia continue to deliver strong growth from a small base, benefiting from the strategic investments we have made.

Decision Analytics

At constant exchange rates total and organic revenue growth was 21%, with significant new wins for credit decisioning software, fraud prevention and analytics during the year.

Marketing Services

Total and organic revenue growth at constant exchange rates was 16%, with strong growth across data quality and targeting services.

Benchmark EBIT and EBIT margin

Benchmark EBIT from ongoing activities moderated to a loss of US$(3)m (2016: US$(15)m). Benchmark EBIT margin from ongoing activities improved 390 basis points to (0.9)%. This primarily reflects improving profitability trends in Asia Pacific and currency translation movements.

Group financial review

Key financials

(1) 2016 results have been represented to exclude discontinued operations except for growth rates, which are as previously reported.

The Group has identified and defined certain non-GAAP measures, as they are the key measures used within the business to assess performance. These measures are used within this Group financial review and, unless otherwise indicated, all discussion of Revenue, Benchmark EBIT and Benchmark EBIT margin relates to ongoing activities only.

Summary

The Group continued to make progress during the year, with organic revenue growth at an average of 5% for the year as a whole. Benchmark EBIT margin from ongoing activities was 27.7%, up 60 basis points for the year, reflecting the phasing of investment in our strategic growth initiatives and exchange rate changes.

The Group reports its financial results in US dollars and therefore the weakness of the Group's other trading currencies (primarily sterling) against the US dollar during the year decreased our total revenue by US$82m and Benchmark EBIT by US$10m, but improved our Benchmark EBIT margin from ongoing activities by 30 basis points. If recent rates prevail, we expect foreign exchange to be broadly neutral to revenue and Benchmark EBIT for the year ending 31 March 2018. Details of the principal exchange rates used are given on page 13.

The Group reported Benchmark PBT of US$1,124m (2016: US$1,071m). Benchmark EPS of 88.4 US cents (2016: 84.4 US cents) represents an increase of 5% at constant currency and also at actual exchange rates. The net interest expense included in Benchmark PBT was US$75m (2016: US$74m). The Benchmark tax rate was 26.2% (2016: 24.6%).

The Group continued to generate strong cash flows, with a 96% conversion of Benchmark EBIT to benchmark operating cash flow (2016: 106%). Investment activity in the year has been undertaken within the capital allocation framework previously outlined and includes the acquisition of CSIdentity ('CSID') for US$380m (including US$22m of cash acquired). The Group has continued to focus its portfolio, and we have agreed to divest a 75% stake in our email/cross-channel marketing business ('CCM').

Shareholder returns

At 31 March 2017, net share repurchases amounted to US$353m (2016: US$592m).

The second interim dividend is 28.5 (2016: 27.5) US cents per share giving a total dividend for the year of 41.5 (2016: 40.0) US cents per share, an increase of 4% on the prior year. This reflects the underlying strength of the business, notwithstanding the foreign exchange headwinds.

Taking the total dividend and share purchases together, during the year the Group returned a total of US$734m to shareholders.

Growing the business

The Group continued to deliver good growth during the year, with organic revenue growth in the mid single-digit target range.

Total revenue growth from ongoing activities was 6% at constant exchange rates in the year ended 31 March 2017, and 4% at actual rates. The divestment of CCM increased organic revenue growth by 0.4%.

This year, Benchmark EBIT from ongoing activities was US$1,199m, growing at 6% at actual exchange rates and 7% at constant currency. Expenditure through the income statement in support of growth included investment in new product growth and innovation. We also invested in restructuring and productivity initiatives and incurred additional regulatory and compliance expenditure.

Benchmark EBIT margin from ongoing activities improved by 60 basis points, and was stable at constant currency before the CCM divestment. The impact of foreign exchange movements improved Benchmark EBIT margin from ongoing activities by 30 basis points overall for the year.

Generating value

The table at Appendix 3 on page 15 provides a reconciliation of our underlying profitability, as measured by Benchmark EBIT, to our statutory profit before tax.

Our net interest expense and the related cash flows have benefited from the strong cash generation and from low interest rates globally. At 31 March 2017, the interest on 63% of our net funding was at fixed rates (2016: 91%).

Our effective tax rate on Benchmark PBT was 26.2%, reflecting the mix of profits and prevailing tax rates by territory. The equivalent cash tax rate remains below our Benchmark tax rate and a reconciliation is provided in the table at Appendix 7. It is currently anticipated that our cash tax rate will increase and move closer to our Benchmark tax rate over the course of the next five years, as tax amortisation of goodwill on earlier acquisitions and prior tax losses are utilised.

Basic EPS was 92.1 US cents (2016: 78.6 US cents). Basic EPS for the year ended 31 March 2017 included earnings of 3.7 (2016: loss of 5.8) US cents per share in respect of discontinued operations and other adjustments made to derive Benchmark EPS. Benchmark EPS was 88.4 US cents (2016: 84.4 US cents), an increase of 5% at actual exchange rates and also at constant currency. Further information is given in note 12 to the financial statements.

At 31 March 2017, Experian had 1,006 million shares in issue of which some 75 million were held by employee trusts and as treasury shares. Accordingly, the number of shares to be used for the purposes of calculating basic EPS from 31 March 2017 is 930 million. Issues and purchases of shares after 31 March 2017 will result in amendments to this figure.

The total dividend per share for the year is covered 2.1 times by Benchmark EPS (2016: 2.1 times) in accordance with our previously declared policy. Ordinary dividends paid in the year amounted to US$381m (2016: US$380m).

Cash and liquidity management

As shown in the Cash flow and net debt summary table at Appendix 5 on page 16, we generated good Benchmark operating and free cash flows in the year. The continued strength of our operating cash flow performance reflects the nature of our business and financial model and our focus on working capital management.

Net debt at 31 March 2017 was US$3,173m (2016: US$3,023m), with undrawn committed borrowing facilities of US$2,375m (2016: US$2,175m). Our net debt at 31 March 2017 was 2.1 times Benchmark EBITDA (2016: 2.0 times), compared to our target range of 2.0 to 2.5 times.

Total investment has been higher during the year ended 31 March 2017 with the acquisition of CSIdentity representing a net cash outflow of US$358m, and capital expenditure in continuing operations of US$399m (2016: US$315m) representing 9% (2015: 7%) of total revenue.

Key statutory measures

Revenue for the year ended 31 March 2017 was US$4,335m (2016: US$4,237m) reflecting the Total growth in ongoing activities offset by the impact of exited businesses completed in the prior year. Operating profit for the year ended 31 March 2017 was US$1,075m (2016: US$1057m).

Basic EPS was 92.1 US cents (2016: 78.6 US cents). Earnings have benefited from a non-cash financing fair value remeasurements gain within net finance costs of US$67m (2016: loss of US$21m). The increase in Basic EPS also reflects a lower statutory tax rate and a lower number of shares in issue as a consequence of our share repurchase programme.

The effective rate of tax based on profit before tax has improved from 25.3% in the year ended 31 March 2016 to 24.2% in the current financial year, driven by a reduction in expenses not deductible for tax purposes and tax on exceptional items incurred in the year ended 31 March 2016.

Foreign exchange rates

Foreign exchange - average rates

The principal exchange rates used to translate total revenue and Benchmark EBIT into the US dollar are shown in the table below.

Foreign exchange - closing rates

The principal exchange rates used to translate assets and liabilities into the US dollar at the year end dates are shown are shown in the table below.

Risks and uncertainties

The ten principal risks and uncertainties faced by the Group are summarised in note 27 to the financial statements.

Appendices

1. Non-GAAP financial information

Experian has identified and defined certain measures that it believes assist in understanding the performance of the Group. These measures are not defined under IFRS and they may not be directly comparable with other companies' adjusted measures. The non-GAAP measures are not intended to be a substitute for, or superior to, any IFRS measures of performance but management has included them as these are considered to be key measures used within the business for assessing performance. Information on certain of our non-GAAP measures is set out below in the further appendices. Definitions of all our non-GAAP measures are given in note 5 to the financial statements.

1. The results for the year ended 31 March 2016 have been re-presented in respect of the email/cross-channel marketing business which has been treated as a discontinued operation.

2. Exited business activities comprise discontinuing Credit Services, Decision Analytics and Marketing Services businesses.

3. Reconciliation of Benchmark EBIT to statutory profit before tax

1. The results for the year ended 31 March 2016 have been re-presented in respect of the email/cross-channel marketing business which has been treated as a discontinued operation.

4. Exceptional items and Other adjustments made to derive Benchmark PBT

An explanation of the reasons for the exclusion of such items from our definition of Benchmark PBT is given in note 5 to the financial statements. 

5. Cash flow and net debt summary

6. Reconciliation of Total investment

7. Cash tax reconciliation

Group income statement

for the year ended 31 March 2017

1. Total Benchmark EBIT, Benchmark PBT per share and Full year dividend per share are non-GAAP measures, defined where appropriate in note 5 to the financial statements.

2. The loss before tax for non-benchmark items of US$53m (2016: US$105m) comprises a credit for exceptional items of US$nil (2016: US$37m) and charges for Other adjustments made to derive Benchmark PBT of US$53m (2016: US$142m). Further information is given in note 8 to the financial statements.

The segmental disclosures in notes 6 and 7 indicate the impact of business disposals on the comparative revenue and Total Benchmark EBIT figures. 

Group statement of comprehensive income

for the year ended 31 March 2017

1. Amounts reported within Other comprehensive income are in respect of continuing operations and, except as reported for post-employment benefit assets and obligations, there is no associated tax. Currency translation items are recognised in the translation reserve within other reserves. Other items within Other comprehensive income are recognised in retained earnings.

Group balance sheet

at 31 March 2017

Group statement of changes in total equity

for the year ended 31 March 2017

for the year ended 31 March 2016

Group cash flow statement

for the year ended 31 March 2017