Large Businesses Showing Greatest Signs of Improvement: Experian

Costa Mesa, Calif. — Experian®, the leading global information services company, today announced the results of its monthly Business Benchmark Report. In February, the national average commercial risk score was 58.15,* improving by 1.8 percent over January’s number. Businesses with 250 to 499 employees have shown the greatest change in the percent of delinquent dollars, seeing a 5.7 percent improvement over the past six months. The largest businesses — those with more than 1,000 employees — have improved by 3.6 percent and continue to rank among the lowest rate of severe delinquency at 2.1 percent, far below the national average.

Other key findings from this month’s Business Benchmark Report include the following.

Risk score:

The national average commercial risk score was 58.15, which improved over last month by more than a full point (or 1.8 percent), continuing to indicate signs of stability and improvement in the business sector.
Utility companies still have the highest risk score average of all industries (68.39), while the hospitality, retail and finance industries continue to have the lowest average at 51.91, 51.77 and 49.88, respectively.
The Plains states have the highest risk score average of all geographic areas (62.11), but North Dakota and Vermont showed the highest per-state average, with 66.80 and 64.46, respectively. The Northeast continues to have the lowest average risk score (55.30). However, the states with the lowest average scores are Florida (53.28) and Nevada (51.97).

Average days beyond terms (DBT):

Health services, public administration and education services demonstrate the best payment performance and are well below the national average, coming in at 4.90, 5.27and 5.55 DBT, respectively.
New England and the Northeast show the best average payment performance, with 4.78 and 4.61 DBT, respectively. However, Alaska (2.74) and Mississippi (3.40) came in with the lowest average DBT per state. Arizona, New Mexico and Nevada had the highest, with 11.11, 11.52 and 12.00 DBT, respectively.

Percentage of dollars delinquent:

The national average percentage of dollars delinquent for February improved by 3 percent over the past six months, and the percentage of dollars 91-plus days delinquent remained stable in February, after seeing a 2 percent improvement last month.
The hospitality industry showed the greatest change, with a 13 percent improvement in the percentage of dollars delinquent and an 11 percent improvement in the percentage of dollars 91-plus days delinquent.
The South Central and Mountain regions showed the greatest improvement in percentage of dollars delinquent (7 percent and 15 percent) and percentage of dollars 91-plus days delinquent (4 percent and 11 percent), respectively. Texas; California; and Washington, D.C., were among the areas with the lowest percentage of dollars delinquent, with an average of 10.01, 9.6 and 7.5, respectively.

To see a visual representation of this data and other information broken down by state in an interactive map of the United States, visit 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, percentage of dollars delinquent and percentage 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.