YouGov Regulatory News (YOU)

3 Aug 2009 07:00



 3rd August 2009

YouGov plc

Trading in line with expectations

YouGov plc ("YouGov"), the international online market research agency, today issued the following trading update for the year to 31 July 2009, ahead of the preliminary results announcement planned on 12 October 2009.

The Board announces that trading for the year ended 31 July 2009 was in line with current market expectations. This has been achieved despite the continuing difficult trading environment experienced by the entire marketing services sector. The Company has begun to see the benefits of the increased focus on its key growth areas of business as well as the cost reduction measures put in place earlier in the year. These actions should help to improve underlying profitability in the next financial year although we envisage that market conditions will remain challenging, at least until the end of 2009. YouGov continues to have a strong balance sheet, is cash generative and remains well placed to support its strategic plans.

All of the Company's geographies have performed as expected in the last six months, including the recently acquired Clear Horizons business in the US. This has been integrated into the US business and rebranded as YouGov Marketing Insights. Across the Group, the number and range of invitations to bid for larger scale corporate and public sector research projects has increased, reflecting the investment made in sectoral expertise. YouGov has recently been appointed to the UK Government's Central Office of Information Market Research framework which will enable us to compete for a wider range of pubic sector research projects. Our new international Omnibus service is performing well. BrandIndex, the innovative syndicated tracker of brand reputation, continues to increase its subscriber base, including new major corporate customers in the USA, while its recent Middle Eastern launch has attracted wide interest across the region. Our political polling expertise now extends to Germany where, as in the UK, the forthcoming elections in the next year should provide opportunities for us to enhance further our reputation for accuracy and innovation.

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