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Consumer credit reporting company Experian said first-quarter organic revenue could fall by up to 5%-to-10% if current trends continue following a 5% fall in revenue in April. The company also reported a slight fall in annual profit as higher costs offset a climb in revenue.?
For the year ended 31 March, pre-tax profit was down 2% to $942m on-year while revenue increased 7% to $5.2bn.
The company announced a second interim dividend of 32.5 US cents per share, unchanged year-on-year to bring the total for 2020 to 47.0 US cents per share, up from 46.5p a share last year.
'We delivered organic revenue growth at the top end of our revenue guidance range and finished the year strongly in the fourth quarter. The Covid-19 crisis began to escalate late into our financial year with limited financial impact in 2020,' the company said.
'There are three main factors to consider which will have a bearing on our 2021 performance, namely the extent of the impact of stay-at-home policies on economic activity, the positive effects of government stimulus measures on consumer spending, and our own efforts to serve the shifting needs and demands of clients and consumers at this time,' it added.
If the Brazilian real continued to weaken, the hit to first-quarter revenue and benchmark earnings (EBIT) would be around 5%.