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GfK Confirms 2012 Sales Growth
GfK has confirmed a 10.2% increase in 2012 sales to EUR 1.5 billion, exceeding its target of 9%. 'Strong' organic growth of 3.1% is cited as a key reason for beating the target.
 For the year, adjusted operating income was static at EUR 187.8m (2011 EUR 187.7m), which means margin fell from 13.7% in 2011 to 12.4%.
At EUR 64.4m, consolidated total income was down more than a quarter on the previous year, mostly as a result of a one-off provision of EUR 21m relating to irregularities and potential back-payments of taxes at its Turkish subsidiary GfK Araştırma Hizmetler.
In Asia Pacific, sales increased by almost a third to EUR 155.0m, and at 17.0%, organic growth exceeded the previous year's figure. However, the firm said that a 'difficult market environment' in several European countries had impacted margin.
CEO Matthias Hartmann (pictured) comments: 'For GfK, last year was dominated by restructuring and digitization. We have successfully integrated and harmonized our product portfolio across all sectors and regions. With our focus on innovative digital services, especially in the field of mobile data, we have positioned ourselves excellently for the future.'
GfK is anticipating organic growth of between 3% and 4% in 2013, and a sales volume of between EUR 1.9 billion and EUR 2.0 billion by the end of 2015. New acquisitions are expected to contribute EUR 100m by the end of 2015.
Web site: www.gfk.com .
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