First Quarter Results at GfK

In the first three months of financial year 2003, the GfK Group has achieved a 7.6 per cent increase in sales on the same period in the previous year.

In organic terms, growth at GfK amounted to 4.6 per cent. Organic growth in the first three months of 2003 therefore exceeded the growth rate of around three per cent estimated for the market research sector overall. Excluding multi-year projects with fixed order volumes, the company achieved growth of 7.2 per cent.

The euro rise against the US dollar and pound sterling reduced growth in sales totalling 11.0 per cent by 3.4 percentage points, primarily in Central and Eastern Europe, America and Asia and the Pacific.

With a rise of almost 60 per cent from EUR 5.7 million to EUR 9.1 million, the increase in EBIT after income from participations was significantly higher. The growth factor for consolidated total income was 2.7, resulting in an increase from EUR 1.2 million to EUR 4.5 million. This means that despite the current flat economic growth worldwide, GfK has once again achieved overproportional growth, creating the basis for success in financial year 2003.

GfK is expecting to achieve its targets for the current financial year. With no change to the scope of consolidation, GfK aims to increase sales by more than five per cent to around EUR 590 million. EBIT after income from participations is once again anticipated to rise more rapidly than sales, resulting in a margin of around 10 per cent.

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