System1 Group Regulatory News (SYS1)

16 Jun 2008 07:00



BrainJuicer Group PLC

("BrainJuicer" or "the Company")

BrainJuicer furthers global expansion with 

Australian licence and Swiss office opening

BrainJuicer Group PLC, (AIM: BJU), a leading international online market research agency, today announces that it has furthered its global expansion strategy by establishing a presence in both Australia and Switzerland, where a number of its existing and potential multinational clients have a regional head office. This expansion builds on the Company's existing offices in the UK, US and the Netherlands.  

Australian licence agreement 

BrainJuicer has agreed to license its products to Slater Marketing Group Pty Ltd ("Slater"), a long-established market research firm based in Melbourne. This first strategic licensing deal for BrainJuicer has been driven by the importance of Australia for the Company's multinational clients. The agreement provides an opportunity to generate new revenues for BrainJuicer in the region, and there are a number of existing clients there already benefiting from BrainJuicer's innovative products, including Fosters Group, Fonterra (one of the largest dairy companies in Australia), and Campbell Arnott's. 

The licence agreement allows Slater to sell BrainJuicer's services in Australia and New Zealand on a profit share arrangement, which will lead to the acquisition of Slater dependent on a series of financial targets. The Company has purchased 3.64% of Slater and agreed to purchase the remainder of the business once pre-agreed financial targets have been met, for a total consideration of AU$2.2 million. The staged structure of the transaction allows BrainJuicer to enter this new market in a phased manner.

Swiss office opening

The Company also announces today that it is opening an office in Switzerland, which is a key strategic market for BrainJuicer's continued expansion.

BrainJuicer has appointed Mark Johnson as the country manager in order to build on the Company's existing client base in this territory. Mark has over 10 years' experience in consumer insight and market research, and with his strong track record of innovation he will be building a team to service Swiss-based clients. He has worked for research and innovation consultancies first in London, then Paris and most recently for Cereal Partners Worldwide in Lausanne (the joint venture between Nestlé and General Mills). By opening this office the Company will be in a position to tap into the significant number of multi-national companies which have their European head offices located there.

John Kearon, CEO of BrainJuicer, commented: "We are delighted to announce the further expansion of the business, which reinforces BrainJuicer's strategy of broadening our geographical reach by identifying regions in which our existing and potential clients have regional head offices, and therefore aligning ourselves with these large multinational companies. Slater is an ideal fit for BrainJuicer, both in terms of its ethos and its client base. The agreement will have considerable benefit for both parties, as BrainJuicer's innovative products will enhance Slater's current offering, and Slater will give BrainJuicer access to this new territory.

"The opening of the Swiss office marks a significant step in terms of our presence in Europe. We have chosen a region in which we already have a number of clients and which houses the European head offices of many of the world's largest companies, including Nestle, General Mills, Proctor & Gamble, Roche and Philip Morris.  Our physical presence there will give us greater ability to grow our client base, and we are delighted to have attracted someone of Mark's calibre to establish this office; his strategic marketing approach will be of great benefit to the Company, and we look forward to his contribution to the ongoing innovation within BrainJuicer.

"The Board is excited about expanding BrainJuicer's global operations. We look forward to updating the market on the successful rollout of the licence agreement with Slater, as well as the anticipated growth of the Swiss office."

- Ends -

For further information, please contact:

UK media enquiries:

US media enquiries:

Notes to Editors

BrainJuicer carries out quantitative online research using innovative, bespoke software to produce insightful market research for large, multinational companies, including 15 of the world's top 100 companies (FT 500 September 2006).

BrainJuicer operates in a growing sector of the US$25bn global research market, namely quantitative online research. BrainJuicer's main competitors are large traditional market research providers who have dominated the market for off-line market research, such as AC Nielsen, Millward Brown, Research International and Taylor Nelson Sofres.

Whilst the largest traditional research companies have developed their own online capability, BrainJuicer has a number of key attributes which have contributed to it achieving rapid growth and winning contracts with prestigious clients, including:

• Research platform that delivers greater diagnostic insight. BrainJuicer has developed tools and award-winning techniques that enable it to provide a greater level of qualitative diagnostic insight into quantitative market research. These techniques enable clients to enhance their understanding of consumer preference and help them make decisions on the best way to develop their products and services.

• Speed. BrainJuicer's automated research techniques enable it to conduct complicated studies very quickly. BrainJuicer's rapid deployment and results production, even on multi-country studies, provide clients with a speed to market advantage in the development of new products and services.

• A scaleable online-only business model. Unlike the traditional research companies who maintain both on and offline data collection capabilities, BrainJuicer is able to focus on operating a scaleable online-only business model.

To date the Group has conducted projects in over 50 countries and more than 30 languages and has established offices in the UK, the Netherlands and the US.

The Group's revenues come from full service market research work, and from its online Juicy Brains Panel in the UK.

Further information on BrainJuicer can be found at www.brainjuicer.com .