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Double Digit Growth for GfK
The final accounts for 2002 for GfK, prepared for the first time in accordance with US GAAP, confirm the growth trend already evident in the preliminary figures published at the end of February. Growth in EBIT including income from participations was particularly notable, and at EUR 50.0 million outstripped the figure for 2001 of EUR 32.7 million by 53.1 per cent.
Sales rose by 10.6 per cent to EUR 559.4 million. This moved GfK up from number 6 to number 5 in the world rankings for market research companies with the agency generating 63.4 per cent of its sales abroad.
Acquisitions and increased shareholdings accounted for 7.8 per cent of the growth in sales and organic growth stood at 3.5 per cent. Currency effects reduced sales growth by 0.7 per cent. Excluding fixed order volumes, organic growth amounted to 5.3 per cent. Overall, organic growth was higher than the growth rate for the market research industry as a whole, estimated to have grown by around three per cent in 2002.
'The past year has shown again that knowledge of the market is respected as the bridge to clients and consumers, including in times of economic difficulties,' explains Dr. Klaus L. Wübbenhorst, CEO of GfK AG. 'GfK is well positioned in a competitive marketplace: as a full-service provider, GfK ranks No. 5 in the world and has a solid financial base. This will enable us to continue to exploit growth opportunities in the future.'
GfK is expecting sales to rise by more than 5 per cent to around EUR 590 million in 2003. EBIT including income from participations is once again set to grow faster than sales and a margin of around 10 per cent is expected.
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