FY22 has been a strong financial year for Experian, with a growing contribution from our relentless focus on innovation and fulfilling our purpose to make a real difference in the financial lives of consumers and our clients.

Mike Rogers
Chair

You will see throughout this year’s Annual Report how Experian is delivering on its business plans while also making a powerful difference to the communities in which we operate around the world.

Helping people and organisations thrive in the digital economy has been, and will remain, a powerful driver of growth opportunities for Experian across all our addressable markets. We could not be successful in this endeavour without our talented people, who bring to life Experian’s innovative and entrepreneurial culture.

We are proud to have been the recipient of many recognitions this year, including numerous accolades for our inclusive and diverse culture and a global recognition as a Great Place to Work. Fortune named us in its 2021 ‘Change the World’ list, reflecting our efforts to drive financial inclusion worldwide. And, in recognition of our sustainability work, we were named as one of Europe’s Climate Leaders 2022 by the Financial Times. 

Championing consumers

Consumer Services has delivered outstanding successes, with much more to come. We are now connected with 134 million free members globally, which makes us one of the biggest financial platforms in the world. We plan to grow and deepen these relationships to help individuals plan their financial lives more effectively.

As our business expands, so does our ability to positively impact people’s lives. We launched our new Experian Go programme in the USA, designed to help the 28 million people who do not have a profile in the credit ecosystem. Experian Go helps these ‘credit invisibles’ create a credit profile for the first time, and then go on to potentially become scorable with greater access to fair and affordable finance options.

In Brazil, we continued our focus on helping consumers manage their debt through our Feiro Limpa Nome campaign. We travelled to nine cities across Brazil and, overall, this year supported nine million consumers to renegotiate their debts with lenders. This is a big step to help the indebted improve their financial position.

These are just a few examples of how Experian is delivering consumer propositions that help make a profound difference in people’s lives, working to extend financial inclusion.

Our technology, data, digital journeys

Our clients are continually upgrading their systems to enhance their customers’ digital experiences while also seeking to lower the cost of acquiring and retaining their customers. We have a rolling programme of investment in our technology, software and datasets to take full advantage of today’s growth in digital services. Our superior data assets, especially when combined with our sophisticated analytics, have put Experian in a position of strength to take advantage of a wide array of opportunities.

Experian's global platforms, like Ascend, help companies to incorporate more analytical insight into their decisions, unlocking their competitive advantage, and hence growing their business. Similarly, PowerCurve on the cloud enables our clients to better understand data and make fast, efficient decisions that support their strategic goals.

In our Health business, we have invested in an initiative we call the 'digital front door', which helps eliminate the friction most patients experience in paying for healthcare in the USA.

We have also entered new market segments such as Verification and Employment Services, a market with a lot of potential and very closely adjacent to our heritage in credit risk assessment. We have built a solid base in the USA, and we will continue to look for ways to expand this business in other geographies.

We are making a lot of progress in Latin America. Our business in Brazil has started to realise the potential of the profound shift which legalised the utilisation of positive data in the credit risk assessment process, and which will greatly widen access to credit. We have also made good progress towards expanding our geographic footprint in Latin America with bureau acquisitions in Chile and more recently an agreement in Panama.

ESG is integral to what we do

We place a strong emphasis on our Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) responsibilities. Doing the right thing for society, our clients, consumers, colleagues and communities is something we are proud of, and we believe this directly contributes to our growth.

Improving financial health is fundamental to our business, and the area where we play the biggest role. With our focus on empowering consumers to improve their financial lives, we help people gain access to credit, safeguard their identity, save money, renegotiate debts and improve their financial knowledge.

Experian Boost in the USA and UK helps people build credit profiles that paint a fuller picture of their financial lives. Experian Go is another step on this journey. Each year we also invest in new social innovation products, which have now reached 82 million people since 2013, in line with our stated target of reaching 100 million people by 2025. We have continued our commitment to partner with charities through our United for Financial Health programme to provide financial education and resources.

We have built many partnerships to provide targeted financial education for microentrepreneurs in Brazil, young people in the UK and Ireland, and diverse communities in the USA – including a YouTube series hosted by Grammy Award-winning recording artist Lecrae that reached over 10 million people. The United for Financial Health programme is now being implemented across multiple regions, and connecting with consumers across the globe.

We have committed to become carbon neutral in our own operations by 2030¹, and have cut our Scope 1 and 2 market-based emissions by 44% since 2019, making significant progress towards our 50% science-based target. We are engaging with suppliers to reduce our Scope 3 emissions, and earned a place on the 2021 CDP Supplier Engagement Leaderboard after obtaining an ‘A’ Supplier Engagement Rating. Moving forwards we will be working on our Net Zero Transition Plan over the next year to help us move towards a net zero target.

People and culture

In FY22, we refreshed our people strategy to ensure that we are able to meet our ambition of being recognised as one of the ’25 greatest places to work in the world’ and to ensure we have a strategy that enables us to attract, retain and develop the best talent within a high-performance, inclusive and caring culture.

We take pride in our strong ‘people first’ culture. This is critical for us to preserve and enhance as we develop new ways of working post-pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic created an unprecedented set of circumstances that have underscored just how critical staying connected with our colleagues is to our success. Therefore, we were delighted to be certified as a Great Place to Work in 20 of our countries including our largest markets of the USA, Brazil and the UK.

We have developed a strong employer brand with a philosophy focused on diversity, equity and inclusion – essential to our purpose of creating a better tomorrow, together. Members of our Group Operating Committee take ownership of this agenda by sponsoring five key areas of focus: gender, LGBTQ+, ethnicity, disability and mental health.

We recognise the global competition for talent so our strategy is focused on high-demand technical skills in crucial markets. We hosted the first-ever Global Careers Week, which over a third of our employees attended, and we launched an internal Career Hub – so that our employees can have access to the resources to continually develop and learn. We have created a global internal talent pool for critical technology skills, as well as expanding our hiring in early careers to develop young, diverse talent through the organisation.

As an organisation, we are aware that our leaders amplify our ambition, culture, and values. In 2022, two-thirds of new top-100 leaders were promoted from within, with the remainder hired externally. We are proud that two of our biggest roles (Chief Operating Officer and CEO, North America) have been filled by internal talent, and that two of our regions, North America and EMEA/Asia Pacific, are now led by women.

Governance and the Board

Strong corporate governance has always been at the heart of the Experian business, and we maintain the highest standards as set out in the UK Corporate Governance Code 2018.

During FY22, Kerry Williams notified the Company of his intention to retire as Chief Operating Officer (COO) and as an executive director of the Company after 19 years at Experian. Kerry has played a pivotal role in taking Experian to the strong position we are in today. We thank Kerry for his outstanding contribution to Experian and wish him well for his retirement.

Craig Boundy succeeds Kerry Williams. Craig has successfully led Experian's North America region for eight years, having joined Experian in November 2011 to lead the UK and Ireland region, and operated in a variety of leading management positions. Craig assumed the position of COO on 1 April 2022 and will join the Board as an executive director of the Company from the conclusion of the Company's Annual General Meeting on 21 July 2022, when Kerry will step down from the Board. To ensure a smooth succession process, Kerry will remain with Experian through to 31 March 2023.

Two of our independent non-executive directors, Deirdre Mahlan and George Rose, will also retire from the Board at the conclusion of the 2022 AGM, having completed nine years’ service on the Experian Board. We would like to thank Deirdre and George for their significant contributions to Experian since joining the Board in 2012.

I’m pleased to share that Jonathan Howell will be appointed to succeed Deirdre as Chair of the Audit Committee from 1 July 2022 and Alison Brittain will be appointed to succeed George as Senior Independent Director and Chair of the Remuneration Committee from the conclusion of the 2022 AGM. Both Jonathan and Alison are existing independent non-executive directors.

Our performance and looking ahead

Our financial performance this year was very strong. We delivered +12% organic revenue growth, +21% growth in Benchmark EPS, and a historic high cash flow conversion of 109% for the Group. Our strong performance is testament to the transformation we are undertaking in Consumer Services, as we become a more comprehensive provider of services to consumers, and our emphasis on providing new datasets and innovative solutions for our Business-to-Business clients.

We look forward from a position of strength, but also mindful of the increasingly uncertain geopolitical environment. Regardless of the challenges ahead, we believe that our clear purpose, great talent and strong culture, combined with continued investment in superior data and technology assets, will enable us to deliver for all our stakeholders.