Ipsos has announced a strong first quarter with revenues up 8.9% to Euros 204.7m. Organic growth was 10.3%, the highest for Q1 since Ipsos' IPO in 1999.
Currency fluctuations had a negative impact of 4.5% due to an average exchange rate of c.$1.310 to the Euro in Q1 2007 compared to $1.201 in Q1 2006. Changes in the scope of consolidation accounted for 3% of Q1 2007 revenues thanks to the integration of several companies, including IMI (Egypt), Apoyo Opinion y Mercado (Peru, Bolivia) and (announced today www.mrweb.com/drno/news6787.htm) KMG Research (Turkey).
Consolidated revenues (millions of euros)
| 2007 | 2006 | 2005 |
1st quarter | 204.7 | 188.0 | 143.5 |
2nd quarter | - | 219.7 | 178.3 |
3rd quarter | - | 205.4 | 168.9 |
4th quarter | - | 244.2 | 227.3 |
Full year | - | 857.3 | 718.0 |
Results by region
Growth by region is remarkably consistent. Ipsos highlighted 'very satisfying' results in Europe with rapid development in Russia and Poland leading the way; and in North America. The firm says growth in the developing markets of Latin America, the Asia-Pacific region (outside of Japan) and the Middle East was also good but 'not quite as strong in early 2007 as at the end of 2006'.
Consolidated revenues by geographic area (millions of euros)
| Q1 2007 | Q1 2006 | % change | Organic growth |
| Europe | 100.6 | 88.3 | 14% | 10% |
| North America | 67.8 | 67.0 | 1% | 10.5% |
| Latin America | 17.9 | 16.2 | 11% | 10% |
| Asia-Pacific / Middle East | 18.4 | 16.5 | 11% | 9% |
| Quarterly revenues | 204.7 | 188.0 | 8.9% | 10.3% |
Results by sector
The company notes that Advertising Research and Opinion and Social Research continued their strong performance from 2006, while Marketing Research, which accounts for nearly half of Ipsos' total revenues, 'has swung back into growth after a tough year-end 2006.' A decline in Media Research revenues should be turned around during the year, while Customer Satisfaction and ither CRM Research 'should grow at a faster pace over the full year'.
Consolidated revenues by business line (millions of euros)
| Q1 2007 | Q1 2006 | % change | Organic growth |
| Advertising Research | 45.5 | 38.0 | 20% | 24% |
| Marketing Research | 96.6 | 93.4 | 3% | 7.5% |
| Media Research | 13.7 | 14.1 | (2%) | (2%) |
| Opinion and Social Research | 29.8 | 23.5 | 27% | 12.5% |
| Customer Relationship Management | 19.1 | 19.0 | 0% | 3.5% |
| Quarterly revenues | 204.7 | 188.0 | 8.9% | 10.3% |
The company says the outlook for 2007 is very buoyant for itself and for research as a whole. Its target of full-year organic growth of about 8% is as uusal ahead of the market. However the firm notes that growth rates reached at the beginning of the year are partly due to catching up after the poor performance reported in late 2006, notably in continental Europe. It concludes 'From this perspective, the Q1 performance should not be extrapolated onto the full year. These results are nonetheless excellent and augur well for a strong year in 2007.'
The group's home page is at www.ipsos.com.
