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(Alliance News) - YouGov PLC on Friday announced a series of executive changes, including moving its chief executive officer to non-executive chair, while noting strong underlying revenue growth and profit in line with market expectations.
Shares in YouGov were down 9.3% to 980.00 pence each in London on Friday morning.
The London-based research and data analytics group said a series of executive changes would become effective from August 1, including Steve Hatch joining the company as its new CEO.
Hatch was until recently Meta Platforms Inc's vice president for Northern Europe, managing all business operations and strategy for the region, taking on the role in 2016. This was after being appointed Facebook's first regional director in the UK in 2014. He is also a non-executive director at Reach PLC, but will step down from this role upon joining YouGov.
Hatch will succeed Stephan Shakespeare, who will move to non-executive chair. Current Chair Roger Parry will leave the company after 16 years. Also on the board, Senior Independent Director Rosemary Leith will also step down after serving nearly nine years, replaced by Nick Prettejohn.
Chief Operating Officer Sundip Chahal will become chief business officer, leading integration and growth strategies at YouGov.
YouGov said Chahal will initially focus on the planned integration of GfK SE's consumer panel business, following YouGov's EUR315 million agreement to buy the business, announced earlier this month. This is alongside working with Hatch to "ensure the success of YouGov's organic growth strategy", YouGov explained.
Chahal will be replaced by Lynda Vivian as a non-board COO, while Chahal will remain on the board as an executive director.
"With the right board and executive team now in place and the transformative acquisition of GfK's consumer panel business in planning stage, I am excited by what we can achieve in the next phase of our strategic growth plan," Shakespeare said.
GfK's consumer panel business is focused on household purchase data, with panels across 16 European countries, consisting of over 100,000 households.
Meanwhile, YouGov on Friday said it saw strong underlying growth in the financial year ending July 31, as well as adjusted operating profit in line with market expectations, which it said demonstrated continued margin expansion during the period.
While it said it expects revenue to be at the lower end of the consensus range, this still reflects underlying growth "well ahead" of the market.
"YouGov has performed well during the period against a challenging market backdrop, with good progress in all geographies. During the year, the group continued to selectively invest in growth initiatives focussed on building-out our panel, enhancing our technology and the continued development of the YouGov Platform, in line with our stated strategy," the company said.
"As previously communicated, the group experienced longer sales cycles and protracted client decision making at the start of this calendar year. The group continues to focus on selling high-margin products and services and remains disciplined to ensure delivery of sustainable, profitable growth."
YouGov said it continues to be highly cash generative and maintains a strong balance sheet, with a net cash position of around GBP104 million as of July 26, more than doubled from GBP41.4 million on January 31. This includes around GBP50 million net proceeds from an equity placing earlier in the month, which will be partly used to fund the consumer panel business acquisition from GFK.
YouGov said it remains confident in its prospects for financial 2024 "and beyond". It will publish its full-year results on October 10.
By Greg Rosenvinge, Alliance News reporter
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