YouGov shares fall as poll group co-founder confirms departure
YouGov shares fall as poll group co-founder confirms departure
- The polling firm expects to report full-year operating profit of £46m-£50m
- Stephan Shakespeare replaces Roger Parry as chairman at the beginning of August
- Shares of YouGov fell Friday, but have still more than doubled in the past 5 years
YouGov co-founder Stephan Shakespeare is preparing to step down as CEO, the polling provider said on Friday.
It came as the group confirmed expectations for full-year operating profit to come in at between £46m and £50m for the 12 months ending July, thanks to continued margin growth.
But YouGov is now also forecasting revenue to be at the lower end of consensus estimates of £257m to £274m, despite forecasts that underlying growth is ‘well ahead of the market’.
YouGov shares fell 11.6 percent or 125 pence to 955 pence late Friday afternoon, but their value has still more than doubled over the past five years.
Transition: YouGov co-founder Stephan Shakespeare will step down as CEO at the end of this month after 12 years in charge to replace Roger Parry as chairman
YouGov said trading had made “good progress” in all areas despite more challenging economic conditions, with the company facing longer sales cycles and customer decision-making in early 2023.
For the six months to January, the company saw sales rise 30 per cent to £131.4 million on the back of stronger demand for data products and its panel-based tailored research business.
It has since significantly improved its net cash position following a successful £51.2 million placement earlier this month, with part of the money raised planned to fund the proposed acquisition of GfK’s consumer panels division.
The €315 million (£270.3 million) acquisition will boost YouGov’s business in Europe and expand its offering into the fast-moving consumer goods sector.
Founded in 2000 by Stephan Shakespeare and ex-Chairman of the Conservative Party Nadhim Zahawi, the company sells data insights to businesses and government agencies in dozens of countries.
It was listed on the junior AIM exchange in London five years later with a market value of just £18 million, which has since skyrocketed to around £1.1 billion.
As part of a board shake-up, Shakespeare will step down as CEO at the end of this month after 12 years in charge to replace Roger Parry as chairman.
Steve Hatch will be the next CEO, having recently been vice president of operations for Facebook owner Meta in Northern Europe and a non-executive director at Daily Mirror publisher Reach.
Prior to that, he spent 15 years at the world’s largest advertising group, WPP, where he rose to head media agency MEC – now known as Wavemaker.
YouGov also promotes Lynda Vivian to chief operating officer, replacing Sundip Chahal, who is named chief business officer, while ex-TSB Bank chairman Nick Prettejohn succeeds Rosemary Leith as senior independent director.