Following the sale of its mail order business this week to the Barclay brothers, owners of Littlewoods, Great Universal Stores (GUS) said there were no immediate plans for the sale of Experian but added the group needed to judge how to get the best value out of the business. The comments prompted market speculation that the group intended to proceed with a flotation of the business.
Group chief executive John Peace said: “We have an open mind about entering into a transaction that would affect the way Experian relates to GUS. There is tremendous potential for growing Experian and the focus is not how to get rid of it.
While the decision by GUS to sell the mail order business was promoted by poor results, with sales down by 8 per cent and operating profits by 54 per cent, Experian reported an 14 per cent rise in operating profit for the year to Ј256m, with a rise in sales per employees of 18 per cent.
Source: Credit Today
