Project delays hit InfoGroup research revenue
Share
US-- InfoGroup's research agencies have reported a 17% decline in first-quarter revenue, attributed largely to delayed projects in the US.
Chief executive Bill Fairfield said the company had experienced “a good deal of success” with its research businesses internationally, particularly ORC International in the UK and those in Asia.
“The challenges are really US-centric,” he said. “The MR group was not just one entity, it was a combination of a number of different transactions that took place after the ORCI transaction” – including Guidline and Northwest.
“One of the issues faced in the US is getting those businesses consolidated,” Fairfield said in a conference call today. “The other thing you should know about the US is they did have a number of major contracts that they expected to start working on early in the year. Those have been delayed, like so many other programmes.”
MR group sales fell from $29.4m last year to $24.5m for the first three months of 2009 and profitability was break-even. Figures exclude contributions from Macro International, which was sold at the end of March for $155m.
Total InfoGroup revenue, including its database and services divisions, was $127.5m, down 17%.
Author: Brian Tarran
Related links:
Strong 2008 growth for InfoGroup's MR firms
