Reported profits at YouGov (YOU) slumped over the year to July, as the market research company was forced to book increased restructuring and amortisation costs. These were linked to the reorganisation of YouGov's Nordic, German and US businesses, together with several acquisitions, including January's deal to secure Decision Fuel, an Asian research and technology company. Strip out the effects of these issues and adjusted pre-tax profit was £7.7m, 12 per cent higher than last year.
This improvement was due to good cost control combined with an increased contribution from higher-margin data products and services. Aggregate sales from these businesses were up 30 per cent, and now constitute 29 per cent of the group total - up from 24 per cent in 2013. Most come from two key services, Omnibus and BrandIndex. The former, YouGov's overnight polling service, boosted sales by a fifth to £8.8m. BrandIndex, which measures brand perception, recorded a massive 53 per cent increase in revenues to £8m, thanks in part to new clients such as Carnival Cruise Lines, Air Berlin and Commercial Bank of Dubai.
Meanwhile, revenues from YouGov's core custom research business crept up by just 1 per cent to £47.7m.
Broker Numis Securities expects EPS of 6.7p this financial year, rising to 8p in 2015-16.
| YOUGOV (YOU) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 100p | MARKET VALUE: | £99m | |
| TOUCH: | 99-101p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 128p | LOW: 73p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 0.8% | PE RATIO: | 250 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 58p* | NET CASH: | £7.2m | |
| Year to 31 Jul | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 44.2 | -10.6 | -8.8 | nil |
| 2011 | 56.1 | 0.4 | 0.3 | nil |
| 2012 | 58.1 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.5 |
| 2013 | 62.6 | 1.5 | 2.1 | 0.6 |
| 2014 | 67.4 | 0.7 | 0.4 | 0.8 |
| % change | +8 | -51 | -81 | +33 |
Ex-div: 6 Dec Payment: 15 Dec *Includes intangible assets of £46.7m, or 47p a a share | ||||
