The agreement provides for the creation of a research company based in Jeddah, designed to operate in the following areas: marketing research (quantitative and qualitative), advertising research, media research, customer satisfaction research and media monitoring.

The company, to be called Ipsos-Stat KSA, is scheduled to become operational during the summer. Recruitment is under way for the technical and sales teams, and a computer-assisted telephone interviewing system (CATI) is being installed.

The new company will complement Ipsos' presence in the Middle East, where the group is already present through the Ipsos-Stat trade name in Lebanon, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Dubai, Jordan, and Syria. Saudi Arabia is a key market in the area, where it alone represents over half of the regional market.

In 2001, the Ipsos-Stat companies are expected to generate a business volume of approximately 6 million Euros.