Merger Stumble Slows YouGov Only Slightly

In the UK, online market research agency YouGov has warned that 2008 profits will be impacted by a one-off £1.2m cost it incurred by terminating merger talks. However, the firm said gross margins will be slightly ahead of market expectations and detailed a range of recent initiatives.

The firm did not provide details about the failed acquisition. Last year, plans for a joint venture between YouGov and Australian marketing services firm Photon Group were abandoned, when Photon instead bought social research specialist Auspoll.

YouGov expects its adjusted operating profit for the year to end-July to be around £8.5m on revenues of over £40m. Organic growth of more than 35% in the existing UK and Middle East businesses is anticipated.

'In the second half we have continued to see strong revenue growth and we expect to achieve further improvement in 2009,' commented CEO Nadhim Zahawi. 'However, profits for 2008 will be affected by higher than expected recent investment and one off exceptional items.'

New product launches in the year include BrandIndex in Germany, Scandinavia and the US and the YourGeneration service to connect with the 32% of the population who were born between 1946 and 1964.

The group has also awarded a BrandIndex license to a partner in Turkey, and set up YouGovHellas in Greece; a joint venture with a local partner in which it will own 51%.

In addition, YouGov recently established integrated data centres and offices in Berlin and Palo Alto and commenced recruitment of panel members and the infrastructure to manage them in Austria, Germany and Russia, as well as specialist sector teams in the UK and US. The cost of this investment is estimated at approximately £2m for the year.

These will be overseen by Panos Manolopoulos, in his new role as CEO of International Partnerships - he will step down from the plc Board in order to focus on developing international joint ventures. Manolopoulos has worked in market research for nearly 14 years, and previously held senior positions at NOP, TNS, and Lightspeed Research. He will remain on the group's Operational Board.

Katherine Lee has stepped down from the post of Chief Financial Officer (CFO) for personal reasons, and been replaced by Alan Newman who has worked with YouGov since June as Transaction and Integration Director. Prior to this, he was a Partner with Ernst & Young and KPMG, and held corporate management roles with Longman (now Pearson Education), and with MAI plc (now United Business Media) - where he was involved in the acquisition and integration of NOP.

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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