Buoyant Second Quarter for GfK

GfK has announced organic revenue growth of 1.7% in the first half of 2013, with sales totalling EUR 728.6m, and a 'particularly profitable' Q2, with adjusted operating income up 15.7 percent.

Reported revenue growth was 1.2%, with acquisitions adding one point but currency effects dragging the figure down by one and a half.

GfK says it continues to pursue vigorously its new Own the Future corporate strategy, focused on globalization and digitization, with the continuing set-up of global centres to increase efficiency, and the ongoing consolidation of its diverse systems. Of its two recently restructured sectors, growth in Consumer Choices (2.4% reported) was considerably stronger than in Consumer Experiences (0.5%). Organic growth in the former in the second quarter of 2013 was 5.2 percent, and GfK says the sector's 'strong performance in Retail Tracking provides a stable basis for the second half of 2013.'

The Group saw double-digit sales growth in organic terms in Central and Eastern Europe, in the Middle East, Turkey and Africa (META) and in Latin America and Asia and the Pacific. Organic sales growth in Northern Europe was strong - as high as 5.2% in the second quarter; while revenue in Southern and Western Europe was flat, and in North America the organic decline was 3.9%.

Adjusted Operating Income was EUR 76.4m in the 6 months - down 5.9 percent on the previous year, and margin was down from 11.3% to 10.5%, although second quarter margin was much higher, at 14.0%. For 2013 as a whole, GfK says it expects organic sales growth of up to 3 percent - above the industry average - and margin between 12.4 and 13.0%.

CEO Matthias Hartmann comments: 'As we expected, our sales and income were significantly up in the second quarter of 2013. In a difficult economic environment and during a major ongoing Group transformation, this has brought us a big step closer to our aim of exceeding the 2012 figures.'

The Group's home page is at www.gfk.com .

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

• GfK Germany
• All news