Kantar 'Resilient' in 'Challenging' Times

Kantar has announced unaudited results for the first half of 2022, with 'gross revenue' up 5% (at constant currency rates) to $1.832bn and adjusted EBITDA up 6% to $310m. Unadjusted, revenue was down 1.8% to $1.566bn, while one-off events contributed to an operating loss of $88m.

The operating loss follows a profit of $258m for the first half of 2021. The group says the loss was mainly driven by ($177 million) in 2021 from the disposal of the Health division and the adverse impact in 2022 of the suspension of operations in Russia ($53 million).

Majoring on the adjusted growth figures, Kantar says five of its six divisions showed growth versus 2021. Strong client demand for behavioural data helped the Worldpanel division to growth of 8% and the Numerator division 17%. Media was up 6% and Profiles up 9% - the latter benefitting from increased concern about data quality due to its high quality global panel LifePoints and recent acquisition of fraud detection solution Qmee. The Insights division grew by 4%, primarily driven by the Brand Performance and Media domains supported by investment in new product and offer; while the Public division declined 9%, as research relating to NHS Covid-18 testing wound down - the latter division's sale is expected to complete this quarter.

Unadjusted revenue figures, impacted by currency fluctuations, show a dramatic drop in reported revenue for the Media division, from $294.2m in H1 2021 to $230.2m in H1 2022; and steep falls in the UK and Continental Europe (from $301.9m to $237.6m, and from $492.2m to $401.3m respectively), partially cancelled out by a strong rise in North America (from $307.2m to $417.3m) - other regions show comparatively little change.

CEO Chris Jansen (pictured) comments: 'The strength and diversity of our portfolio, both geographically and by expertise, helped us perform resiliently in a complex and challenging business environment in the first half of 2022... The superior growth levels we achieved in our Worldpanel, Numerator and Profiles divisions, in particular, illustrate the importance of having a fundamental understanding of consumer behaviour and attitudes as clients navigate almost constant change. The strong performance of our Insights business highlighted the value we deliver in measuring and improving the performance of marketing spend when clients are closely monitoring every dollar of spend'. Jansen says staff have 'continued to make great progress in reshaping the company, with a portfolio strengthened 'both organically and through acquisition' and the recent launch of a suite of new offerings on Kantar Marketplace.

Group home page: www.kantar.com .

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