Ipsos Reports First Half Revenues

Ipsos has reported a 53.4% increase in first half revenues to EUR 837.0m, reflecting the integration of Synovate into its financial statements.

The acquisition took place in October, and created the third largest market research company in the world. However, in April, Ipsos admitted that the need to integrate Synovate had slowed its expansion.

Ipsos says it's unable to provide a good estimate of organic growth, and indeed comparing figures from the two companies from last year is difficult, partly because of the inclusion in last year's Synovate figures of Aztec, a transactional data business which was not included in the Ipsos buy. The latter should be borne in mind when considering that H1 2012 revenues for the integrated group are down on the sum of the two companies from H1 2011. Then Ipsos reported revenues of EUR 558.2m, and Synovate revenues of £269.7m, equivalent to EUR 344.1m at today's rate or EUR 304.7m at the rate prevailing 12 months ago.

In the latest figures, gross profit increased 0.5% for the combined Ipsos + Synovate entity, and the gross margin was flat at 63.4%. Operating profit was EUR 48.2m, up 5.5% compared to the first half of 2011, and the operating margin improved by 27 basis points.

The impact of Synovate has been particularly strong in the Asia-Pacific region. In the emerging countries, revenues were up 59.2%, accounting for 34% of group revenues, compared to 32% in the first half of 2011. By business line, customer relationship/management research showed the highest rate of increase - growing by 78.3% to EUR 105.8m this year, compared with EUR 59.3m in the prior year period.

Consolidated revenues by geographic area (In million euros)	H1 2012	H1 2011	Change 2012/2011	At constant exchange rate
Europe, Middle East and Africa	371.0	247.7	49.8%	48.0%
Americas	323.1	245.4	31.6%	26.3%
Asia-Pacific	142.9	65.1	119.6%	108.1%
First-half revenues	837.0	558.2	49.9%	45.5%

Consolidated revenues by business line (In million euros)	H1 2012	H1 2011	Change 2012/2011	At constant exchange rate
Advertising Research	136.5	121.7	12.2%	7.7%
Marketing Research	427.6	253.6	68.6%	64.0%
Media Research	86.4	62.3	38.7%	33.2%
Opinion & Social Research	80.6	61.3	31.5%	28.1%
Customer Relationship Management Research	105.8	59.3	78.3%	74.7%
First-half revenues	837.0	558.2	49.9%	45.5%

In 2012, Ipsos expects 'stable' revenues at constant scope and exchange rates, with an operating margin before non-recurring items of about 10%, which it describes as a significant increase compared to the Ipsos + Synovate combined margin of 8.8% in 2011. Between July and December, Ipsos anticipates that revenues should reach or exceed EUR 1 billion.

Web site: www.ipsos.com .

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

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