Synovate Posts 9.3% Organic Growth

Synovate parent, The Aegis Group has posted an 8.7% increase in first-half pre-tax profits, while confirming that Synovate continues to outperform expectations, having grown almost twice as fast as its market.

Underlying pre-tax profit for the group rose by 13.2% on a constant currency basis and 8.7% in absolute terms to £41.3 million, on revenue up 9% to £306.2m.

At Synovate, revenue performance was up 12.6% on a constant currency basis, and 5.8% at reported rates, to £192.8 million. The firm says that its organic revenue growth at 9.3% was almost twice as fast as the wider market research industry.

Underlying operating profit was down 4.1% on a constant currency basis, and 6.7% at reported rates, to £7.0 million, which the firm has put down to costs incurred in the first half of the year, ahead of second half contract completions and revenue. The company is expecting this situation to reverse in the second half of the year.

The group says Synovate is continuing to develop its specialisms in new areas such as Retail and Media, and that Healthcare has continued to trade well in all regions. Its Therapy Monitor product development is also delivering good growth, with good results from the introduction of Oncology in Australia, Japan and China (www.mrweb.com/drno/news7263.htm ).

Synovate entered an agreement with GMI in April, giving it preferential access to the latter's panels in more than 50 countries (www.mrweb.com/drno/news6689.htm ); and acquired Amsterdam-based Interview-NSS in January (www.mrweb.com/drno/news6381.htm ), strengthening its position in the Netherlands and expanding its media expertise.

Regionally, Synovate EMEA's revenue grew 10% on a constant currency basis, and 6.3% at reported rates, to £92.2 million. Synovate performed well in both North and South America, with revenue growth of 10.6% on a constant currency basis, and 0.5% at reported rates, to £58.3 million. Once again Asia-Pacific was Synovate's fastest-growing region, up 21.6% on a constant currency basis, 12.5% at reported rates, to £42.3 million. The firm says that market conditions remain good in most parts of the region, and it continues to benefit from its significant exposure to these economies.

With regard to overall group results, Aegis said in a statement: 'While the current weakness of the US dollar and related currencies will continue to affect our reported results, we expect to make good underlying progress in the full-year on a constant currency basis, in line with our expectations.'

Web sites are at www.aegisplc.com and www.synovate.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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