YouGov Weathers Difficult Year

YouGov has reported results for the year ended 31st July, with turnover up 10% to £44.3m, but down after allowing for currency effects. Normalised operating profit fell from £8.7m to £3.1m but markets reacted favourably to the figures.

Normalised profit before tax was £3.9m (2008: £9.5m) and reported loss before tax £0.7m, compared with a profit of £4.0m in 2008; and normalised earnings per share were down from 9.1p in 2008 to 2.7p. However the group stressed that it has a good cash position, strong balance sheet and brand and has continued to grow its market share, it believes, against longer-established research firms.

The company says it has seen good performance from its US acquisition Polimetrix, extended its BrandIndex product to all its geographies, launched new syndicated products and rolled out its global technology platform.

CEO Nadhim Zahawi said the year had been 'very challenging for the research industry as a whole' but that YouGov had 're-focused the business on our core revenue generating areas and cut costs. Importantly, we believe that YouGov has continued to grow its market share compared to the incumbents.'

In terms of regional performance, UK revenues fell 12% to £11.1m, largely due to financial client cuts; while Middle East revenues grew 10% to £8.4m but slipped 13% in local currency terms; revenues from Germany were up 23% (6% at constant currencies) to £14.8m; Scandinavian up 14% (2% in local currency) to £7.4m; and US operations increased revenue by 25% to £3.5m, but fell by 4% at constant currencies.

Gross margin fell 7 points to 76%, partly due to a higher proportion of projects involving external suppliers, while cost cutting initiatives resulted in staff numbers falling from around 450 a year ago to 413 now.

The board is not proposing the payment of a dividend for the year, preferring to be cautious in uncertain times and reinvest for the future. Today the company's shares rose slightly as results were considered to be in line with expectations.

Web site: www.yougov.com .

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.

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