Growth for Arbitron, IMS Health and Confirmit

Arbitron, Confirmit and IMS Health have all reported buoyant first quarters, with revenues up 7.9%, 14% and 35% respectively.

Radio ratings agency, Arbitron recorded Q1 revenues of $91.8m, compared with $85.1m during the same period last year. The firm says that sales of its Portable People Meter (PPM) equipment have contributed to this growth.

Stephen Morris, President and CEO commented: 'Our primary goal in 2007 is to execute the initial markets in our PPM rollout, continue our steady progress toward MRC accreditation for all PPM markets, and work with the radio industry to make the transition to electronic measurement as smooth as possible.'

He added that net loss of affiliates had increased to $3.8m from $2.4m this time last year, due to the firm's share in net losses for Project Apollo, which it co-owns with Nielsen (www.mrweb.com/drno/news6397.htm ). He explained: 'While initial results show promise, we still have further work to do to demonstrate the value of Project Apollo.'

Meanwhile, pharmaceutical MR firm, IMS Health, reported revenues at $510.3m from $446.2m in last year's first quarter, but a decrease in profit as the firm announced earnings of $85.6m compared with $118.1m for Q1 2006.

Operating income in the first quarter was $111.1 million, up 15%, compared with $96.7m in the year-earlier period. Q1 results included a $15.7m provision for income taxes, versus an income tax benefit of $23.8m in the year-ago quarter. Excluding the tax benefits and foreign exchange hedge gains and losses, the company posted first-quarter profit of 35 cents per share, up from 31 cents per share in the 2006 period.

'IMS had an excellent start to 2007, turning in an impressive operating income performance that outpaced our 14% revenue growth for the quarter,' commented David Carlucci, IMS Chairman and CEO. 'This marks our tenth consecutive quarter of double-digit constant-dollar revenue growth as we continue to build a great track record of sustained performance.'

MR software and Enterprise Feedback Management (EFM) company, Confirmit, demonstrated Q1 revenue growth to $6.5m, while doubling its profit.

EBIT margin for the first quarter of 2007 increased to 9% compared with 7% in the corresponding quarter of 2006.

Commenting on the results, Confirmit's CEO, Henning Hansen said, 'We've had a great start to 2007 and delivered strong growth in both of our key markets, EMEA and North America. In the first quarter of 2007, we signed more business with new clients than we have ever done in a single quarter previously.'

The three firms are online at www.arbitron.com, www.imshealth.com and www.confirmit.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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