| |
YouGov Announces 48% Growth
UK online survey specialist YouGov has announced 48% turnover growth, and 47% growth in profit before tax, for the year ending 31 July 2005. The company, which floated on the UK's Alternative Investment Market (AIM) in April, saw turnover increase from £1.9m to 2.9m between 2004 and 2005.
Over the last year, the number of online panel members for whom the company has demographic information grew from around 65,000 to 98,000. In addition, the company established panels in the US and the Middle East. This year's projects included online research for the British Election Study (BES), which involved daily tracking surveys throughout the election campaign, as well as studies of political attitudes before the campaign started and after election day.
Company name notwithstanding, YouGov is expanding in areas outside political and opinion research, and two thirds of its work over the past year was in fact commercial market research. One such study involved investigating consumer purchasing behaviour and attitudes towards in-store promotions for the supermarket ASDA.
Commenting on the results and the company's future plans, Nadhim Zahawi, Joint CEO of YouGov, said: 'The company performed well throughout the year, exceeding our expectations. Our flotation secured £3m new capital to support the company's growth and we have clear expansion criteria.'
Zahawi says the company aims to 'grow the business organically and by acquisition' and to expand its 'client base, research services and geographic footprint'. Possibilities include expansion in the Middle East, where YouGov has already conducted a panel of business people, and established the Middle East Business Confidence Index for HSBC.
The company remains optimistic about the demand for online research services, stating that total Internet research spending worldwide is expected to reach more than $1.6bn in 2005, rising to $4bn by 2008. Before the end of this year, YouGov hopes to launch BrandIndex, a new service providing daily tracking of around 1,100 consumer brands in 32 sectors.
YouGov's web site is at www.yougov.com.
|
