Business Payments Continue to Decline, According to Experian?s Latest Business Benchmark Report

Costa Mesa, Calif. — Experian®, the leading global information services company, today announced the results of its monthly Business Benchmark Report. During the month of November, the majority of measurements in the report show that payment performance is continuing to deteriorate nationwide across most industries, geographies and businesses of all sizes. Still, businesses with 100 to 1,000 employees began showing improvement in overall dollars delinquent, indicating there may be some stability in that important business segment. In addition, businesses with no employees (or nonemployer firms) continue to perform better than most of their counterparts, with the exception of dollars delinquent over 90 days.

Other key findings from this month’s Business Benchmark Report include:

Risk score:

• The national average commercial risk score for November was 60.54*. Based on a rolling six-month average, this score has declined by 1.4 percent, indicating higher risk of severe payment delinquency over the next 12 months.
• Businesses of more than 1,000 employees continue to show the highest rate of projected severe delinquency.
• Utilities companies still have the best risk score average of all industries (70.67), and Hospitality has the worst (56.05).
• The Northeast region has the lowest risk score (56.46) and saw the largest decline in the period at 1.8 percent.

*Based on a 100-point scale

Average days beyond terms (DBT):

• The national average DBT for November was 5.16. This number has increased by 4 percent, indicating overall payment behavior is continuing to slow.  
• Health Services has the best average DBT at 4.02, while Construction has shown the worst payment performance, coming in at an average of 9.09 DBT.
• The Mountain States region has the worst payment performance, with an average of 8.1 DBT.

Percent of dollars delinquent:

• A bright spot perhaps: For midsize to large businesses (100 to 1,000 employees), the percent of dollars delinquent is improving. However, the percent of dollars 91-plus days delinquent is only improving in businesses with 500 to 1,000 employees.
• The average percent of dollars delinquent for November was 14.7 percent (a 2 percent deterioration), and the percent of dollars now 91-plus days delinquent is 5.9 percent (a 7 percent deterioration). The continued growth in severe delinquency reinforces the continued deterioration in payment performance nationwide. 
• Construction has the worst percent of dollars delinquent (25.34 percent) and continues to deteriorate in both percent of dollars delinquent and in the percent of dollars that are 91-plus days delinquent.

To see a visual representation of this data and other information broken down by state in an interactive map of the United States, go to http://www.BusinessCreditFacts.com/map.

About the Business Benchmark Report
Experian’s Business Benchmark Report is a monthly look at how businesses are faring in the United States. Designed to monitor the progress of business recovery, the report looks at four key indicators of business health, including commercial risk score, days beyond payment terms, percent of dollars delinquent and percent of dollars severely delinquent.

About Experian’s Business Information Services
Experian’s Business Information Services partners with organizations to establish and strengthen customer relationships, enabling them to mitigate risk and improve profitability. The company’s business database provides comprehensive, third-party-verified information on U.S. companies of all sizes, with the industry’s most extensive data on the broad spectrum of small and midsize businesses. By leveraging state-of-the-art technology and superior data compilation techniques, Experian is able to provide market-leading tools that assist clients in processing new applications, managing customer relationships and collecting on delinquent accounts. For more information about Experian’s advanced business-to-business products and services, visit http://www.experian.com/b2b or call 1 800 520 1221.

About Experian
Experian is the leading global information services company, providing data and analytical tools to clients in more than 65 countries. The company helps businesses to manage credit risk, prevent fraud, target marketing offers and automate decision making. Experian also helps individuals to check their credit report and credit score and protect against identity theft.

Experian plc is listed on the London Stock Exchange (EXPN) and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 index. Total revenue for the year ended March 31, 2009, was $3.9 billion. Experian employs approximately 15,000 people in 40 countries and has its corporate headquarters in Dublin, Ireland, with operational headquarters in Nottingham, UK; Costa Mesa, California; and São Paulo, Brazil.

For more information, visit http://www.experianplc.com.