Yougov forecasts higher revenue as chief flags ‘challenging’ economic backdrop

Yougov has hiked its revenue guidance following two January acquisitions, despite its chief executive flagging “challenging” market conditions.

The company, which provides polling and market research to some of the world’s biggest brands, said it expects medium-term revenue of £650m, up from a prior forecast of £500m. It left its adjusted operating profit margin target of 25 per cent unchanged.

It reported revenue of £143m for the six months to the end of January.

The London-listed firm snapped up German market research firm GfK’s Consumer Panel Business for €315m (£270.1m) in January. It also acquired the US-bassed survey group KnowledgeHound for an undisclosed amount earlier that month.

The guidance change came despite chief executive Steve Hatch highlighting a “challenging macroeconomic environment.”

Statutory pre-tax profits fell 50 per cent to £10.4m in the six months to January, despite a revenue rise of nine per cent to £143.1m. Shares dipped over three per cent in early trading.

In a statement, Hatch said: “Yougov delivered a resilient performance in the first half of the financial year, with continued growth momentum in a challenging macroeconomic environment. In line with our strategy, we have continued to invest in the business to drive sustainable growth and expand our technological capabilities both organically and through acquisitions made during the period.”

He added: “We were delighted to welcome the brilliant CPS and KnowledgeHound employees to our team. I am pleased to confirm that the integration of CPS is progressing well, with positive responses from both clients and our combined teams. We are collaborating on commercial opportunities, with active cross-sell projects beginning to come through post period end, as we create more value for our clients. 

Yougov had been the talk of London markets last year as it mulled a listing in the US, in what would have been a major blow for the Stock Exchange.

However, in an interview with City A.M earlier this year, Hatch said a New York float was “not part of our consideration and it certainly hasn’t been in board discussions at all lately.”