Strong 2008 growth for InfoGroup's MR firms

US-- InfoGroup's research businesses grew faster than the business as a whole last year, with revenue up 20% to $265.5m.

The group's overall revenue was up 7% to $738.3m. Revenue for the fourth quarter was down 4% to $178.1m.

CEO Bill Fairfield said the company had accomplished its goal for the year of “setting the stage” for earnings growth while reducing the company's $313m debt to $301m.

Chief financial officer Tom Weatherford told investors today that the firm is looking at “sizeable” cost savings in anticipation of a tough year ahead, through measures including standardisation and consolidation of back offices and processes. Weatherford said there were “many areas” where costs could be taken out of the business without an impact on client service.

Fairfield took over after the resignation of founder Vin Gupta in August, after a shareholder lawsuit prompted an internal investigation which found that some corporate expense payments made by Gupta to companies he owned were “excessive”.

Operating income was $25.3m, down from $86.5m in 2007, partly due to $34.3m in costs from the shareholder lawsuit and severance payments to Gupta.

InfoGroup's MR division includes Guideline, Macro International, NWC, OneSource, Opinion Research International and ORC International.

Author: Robert Bain

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