First Quarter Growth for Arbitron

US media ratings giant Arbitron has posted first quarter profit growth of 5.5% to $16.3m. Revenue for the period ended 31 March rose 5.5% to $94.1m from $89.1m in the prior year, almost in line with Wall Street expectations.

In February, Arbitron sold its UK-based custom research business CSW Research, known as Continental, to London-based BDRC. Arbitron has reclassified the firm as a 'discontinued operation', and says it added a net gain of $450,000 for Q1 2008. During the first quarter of 2007, Continental generated a net loss of $31,000.

Earnings before interest and income tax expense (EBIT) for the quarter were $26.8m, an increase of 8.3% compared with EBIT of $24.7m for the first quarter of 2007. Meanwhile, income from continuing operations for first quarter 2008 was $16.3m or $0.58 per share (diluted), compared with $15.5m, or $0.52 per share (diluted) in Q1 2007.

It has been a difficult few months for Arbitron. In February, it announced a joint decision with Nielsen to ditch development of their Project Apollo scheme, which linked consumers' buying behavior with the PPM's tracking of electronic media exposure. In addition, following a number of complaints from broadcasters that Arbitron's Portable People Meter (PPM) radio ratings sample sizes were too small, the firm delayed the system's rollout in nine of its planned markets. Costs and expenses for the first quarter increased by 4.4%, from $60.6m in 2007 to $63.3m in 2008, due to these planned PPM expenditures.

Stephen Morris, Chairman, President and CEO, commented on the impact that the firm's continued work towards commercialization of its PPM ratings services is having: 'Five months have passed since we announced a pause in the commercialization of the PPM service to address issues raised by our customers, the Media Rating Council and other constituencies. Throughout the first quarter, we worked hard to improve these important measures and I am encouraged by the results of our efforts.'

Morris noted that Arbitron has now met or surpassed many of its benchmarks, and added that the 18-34 age group sample among all ethnicities has been strengthened significantly. 'While there is work still to be done, I can point to evidence of solid progress on many fronts,' he stated.

For the full year 2008, Arbitron expects revenue from continuing operations to increase between 8% and 10%.

Web site: www.arbitron.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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