Q1 2021: A Real Upturn
Q1 2021: A Real UpturnQ1
revenue: €466.3 millionOrganic growth:
+14.1% Total growth: +8.8%
Paris, April 22, 2021
- Ipsos posted revenue of €466.3 million in Q1 2021, up
8.8% compared to 2020 and up 10.5% compared to 2019.
Currency effects are significant, reducing the
company's level of revenue by 5.7%, reflecting the decline in the
value of most emerging market currencies and also that of the US
dollar against the Euro. The effects of changes in the scope of
consolidation are slight (+0.4%).
At constant exchange rates and scope of
consolidation, Ipsos' organic growth in Q1 was 14.1%. Q1 2020
already bore the scars of the global epidemic crisis. Some Chinese
regions had been locked down from January 2020. Italy closed at the
beginning of March, with France and other European countries
adopting very restrictive provisions a few days later. Similar
measures in other continents, including the Americas, were
introduced in late March or April, depending on the country. The
"great lockdown" halted Ipsos' growth.
For the first three months of 2020, activity
remained stable compared to the same period of 2019 due to, as we
pointed out at the time, two good months in January and February
and a poor month in March. Ipsos' activity in the first quarter of
2021 grew organically by more than 14% compared to the same periods
in 2019 and 2020 thanks to a very good month in March.
PERFORMANCE BY
REGION
In millions of Euros |
Q1 2021 revenue |
Contribution |
Change Q1 2021 / Q1 2020 |
Organic growth |
EMEA |
234.5 |
50% |
24.8% |
28% |
Americas |
154.6 |
33% |
-7.7% |
0.5% |
Asia-Pacific |
77.2 |
17% |
5.4% |
9% |
Annual revenue |
466.3 |
100% |
8.8% |
14.1% |
Performance by region reflects the course of the
pandemic. The regions that were hit earliest are also those that
are rebounding most strongly, provided they are able to control the
contagion.
In Asia, Ipsos grew by 9%, driven by an
excellent performance in China and somewhat hampered by a lack of
activity in North Asia, Australia and Hong Kong. In total, Asia is
the only region where Ipsos' activity in 2021 is slightly lower
than in 2019.
Activity grew in the Americas in 2020 (+4%). It
stabilized in 2021 and is better in the North than in the South.
Despite encouraging signs, Ipsos' revenues in Latin America will
only return to a satisfactory level and resume growth if the health
situation improves.
Finally, the EMEA region is in very positive
territory. Its total growth was 24.8% and 28% organically. All
markets experienced double-digit growth with the exception of
Central and Eastern Europe, which grew by "only" 7.5%. In Western
Europe in particular, but also, on a more limited scale, in the
Middle East and most African countries, Ipsos is well placed to
benefit from the resumption in demand from private commercial
companies and simultaneously from the explosion in the information
needs of public institutions, especially those engaged in the fight
against Covid-19.
PERFORMANCE BY
AUDIENCE
In millions of Euros |
Q1 2021revenue |
Contribution |
Change Q1 2021 / Q1 2020 |
Organic growth |
Consumers1 |
203.5 |
44% |
4.9% |
12% |
Customers and employees2 |
89.3 |
19% |
-15.7% |
-11.5% |
Citizens3 |
94.1 |
20% |
43.9% |
49% |
Doctors and patients4 |
79.4 |
17% |
25.5% |
27.5% |
Annual revenue |
466.3 |
100% |
8.8% |
14.1% |
Breakdown of Service Lines by audience segment:1- Brand Health
Tracking, Creative Excellence, Innovation, Ipsos UU, Ipsos MMA,
Market Strategy & Understanding, Observer (excl. public
sector), Social Intelligence Analytics2- Automotive & Mobility
Development, Audience Measurement, Customer Experience, Channel
Performance (including Retail Performance and Mystery Shopping),
Media development, Capabilities3- Public Affairs, Corporate
Reputation4- Pharma (quantitative and qualitative)
The evolution of performance by audience
reflects this two-fold movement. The revenue generated by the
services that study people as citizens and patients is developing
very favorably. States, non-governmental organizations and
international institutions engaged in the fight against the
epidemic are feeding a continuous flow of requests for measurements
and information of various kinds. Pharmaceutical companies, whether
or not they are involved in the fight against Covid-19, are also
very active. Services that qualify people as consumers are
regaining momentum, quarter after quarter. Ipsos' revenue from this
audience was down slightly last year. The gap, recorded in 2020,
compared to the medium-term growth potential of our company, has
now been overcome.
In the end, the only services that remain in
decline are those related to customer and employee services. They
were already struggling in 2020 for technical and sectoral reasons.
In this segment, many of Ipsos' services require physical contact
between, for example, interviewers and locations. These services
are, therefore, much less usable at the moment given the
continuation of restrictive health policies. In addition, a
significant number of companies interested in these audiences
operate in sectors such as transport, hotels, restaurants or
tourism which obviously have not yet returned to their pre-Covid-19
level of activity. Here, the timeframe for the return to
pre-Covid-19 revenue levels is hard to predict.
OTHER DESCRIPTIVE
ELEMENTS OF THE BUSINESS CONDITIONS DURING THE FIRST QUARTER
Profitability is in line with the objectives for
the year and significantly higher than the same period last year.
In March 2020, the suddenness of this decline in activity did not
allow us to immediately reduce our costs to a similar extent, as
they are partly fixed and were proportionate to the growth forecast
for the year 2020. Additionally, the savings plan put in place to
deal with the impact of the pandemic continues to bear fruit. Over
the whole of 2021, savings of around 20 million compared to 2019
operating expenses are expected.
Free cash flow generation is also in line with
expectations and is particularly high due to the good level of
sales at the end of 2020, which materialized in cash receipts
during this quarter.
The company invested approximately €5 million
through two acquisitions (Fistnet - DotMetrics and MGE Data) and
the buyout of minority interests in Croatia and Serbia during Q1.
The two new companies are included in the consolidated financial
statements as of January 1, 2021.
The net debt ratio at March 31, 2021 was 20%,
down from 31% at December 31, 2020 and 47% at March 31, 2020.
The company has good liquidity with €327 million
in cash and around €300 million in undrawn bank facilities,
enabling it to meet its 2021 and 2022 debt maturities.
OUTLOOK 2021
Defining prospects is always a difficult
exercise, especially for companies which, like Ipsos, manage a
diversified portfolio of products and/or services in a large number
of markets. Context always plays a major role and explains a
significant part of the performance. Usually, changes in the
political, economic, financial and societal context are, if not
predictable, at least manageable because they fall within limits
that are rarely exceeded. It took a major financial crisis in 2008
/ 2009 to bring growth in many markets to an unexpected halt for
several consecutive quarters. The Covid-19 pandemic is a more
brutal, longer, more sinusoidal phenomenon than the "great
recession" of 2009. Forecasting exercises are tricky. Mass
vaccination is currently the only solution to successfully combat
Covid-19 and its multiple variants. The difficulty is, of course,
that the prospects of mass vaccination unfortunately face many
obstacles: the variants; the efficacy and also the safety of
vaccines; their availability to the greatest number of people,
including in the most populous and least developed countries; and
finally, the appetite or acceptance of people to be vaccinated,
especially when concerns about their dangerousness spread in public
opinion. Will the pandemic end? Yes, of course. Within what
timeframe? We do not know. The only good questions are rather: how
will individual countries, their citizens and their businesses
function until the day the word "end" means the positive and final
outcome of the fight against Covid-19? How does Ipsos organize
itself in this interim period to meet the information needs of its
clients: commercial companies, public institutions and
non-governmental institutions?
In 2020, Ipsos managed to control its costs and
also to quickly adapt to this unexpected and massive crisis.
Our action consisted of working on the different
factors of the equation that allow Ipsos to be more successful than
others. Our company has strengthened its ties with its clients and
adapted its solutions so that they are simple to implement and
provide information that is secure, relevant, easy to use and as
up-to-date as possible. Above all, our company has multiplied
initiatives to make its employees and partners feel supported,
included and associated with its success.
Ipsos is an independent company and intends to
remain so. Ipsos is a company that has defined its raison d'être:
"To deliver reliable information, that provides a true
understanding of Society, Markets and People" and intends to remain
true to this. We are convinced that our capabilities, our
solutions, our expertise, our reputation, our investments in
partner companies and in new technological solutions, our
insistence on promoting the idea that only the quality of
information and the ways to make it understandable, are
incomparable assets in the current period and in the turbulent
times that will follow the end of the pandemic.
The demand for our services has been strong
since last autumn. Our performance in Q1 2021 is excellent. It is
the result of a positive combination of strong private demand and
very strong public demand, which is exceptional in part because it
is directly linked to the management of the epidemic.
Our order book is also high at the moment.
Consequently, despite the inevitable uncertainties linked to the
health situation and its consequences on society, economic activity
and, more generally, social stability, Ipsos is in a position to do
better in terms of revenue than in 2020 and also than in 2019. The
growth of its business should be accompanied by an improvement in
its operating margin compared to 2020.
ABOUT IPSOS
Ipsos is the third largest market research company in the world,
present in 90 markets and employing more than 16,000 people.
Our passionately curious research professionals, analysts and
scientists have built unique multi-specialist capabilities that
provide true understanding and powerful insights into the actions,
opinions and motivations of citizens, consumers, patients,
customers or employees. Our 75 solutions are based on primary data
from our surveys, social media monitoring, and qualitative or
observational techniques.
Our tagline "Game Changers" sums up our ambition to help our
5,000 customers move confidently through a rapidly changing
world.
Founded in France in 1975, Ipsos has been listed on the Euronext
Paris since July 1, 1999. The company is part of the SBF 120 and
Mid-60 indices and is eligible for the Deferred Settlement Service
(SRD).ISIN code FR0000073298, Reuters ISOS.PA, Bloomberg IPS:FP
www.ipsos.com
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