YouGov bought its Shopper division from GfK in 2023 for €315m, covering GfK’s European Consumer Panel business.

However, in YouGov’s latest financial results, covering the six months ending 31^st January 2026 and posted on the London Stock Exchange, the company said that while the board was encouraged by the progress made by YouGov’s Shopper division, it “believes that its underlying value and long‑term potential is not fully reflected in the company’s market valuation”.

The board said that it had therefore decided to carry out a strategic review of the Shopper division, adding that “the company is working to evaluate a range of options, which may include, but are not limited to, a potential disposal and an assessment of opportunities to combine our data assets to create a differentiated joint commercial proposition to unlock synergies”.

The review process is at a preliminary stage and no decision has been made regarding whether any option will be pursued, the company said.

YouGov’s results for the six months saw a 2% rise in revenue to £194.8m, which was led by demand in the company’s research division.

The results also showed an adjusted operating profit of £24m, down 20% on a reported basis, which the company said reflected the required investment needed in the Shopper division to sustain growth, and re-investment in strategic areas.

The Shopper division’s adjusted operating profit of £6.8m was impacted by additional investments. The impact of those investments is expected to be worth around £6m.

The investment in Shopper’s capabilities including introducing semi-passive and passive data collection, as well as expanding and upgrading panels across Europe.

With the incremental investment in YouGov Shopper of £6m, the business said that it expects adjusted operating profit for its full-year results to be between £52m and £56m.

YouGov said that Shopper revenues increased 3% in reported terms, and was 2% lower on an underlying basis. The company said that the decline was due to early client deliveries towards the end of 2025, and that it expected to return to growth by year end with the order backlog ahead of last year.

The six-month results also said that “given dislocation between our confidence in YouGov’s intrinsic value and the current market valuation”, the board is expected to launch a share buyback programme in place of the annual dividend.

In addition, refinancing of bank facilities is being carried out to provide greater financial flexibility for the business, including to support the expected share buyback programme.

Stephan Shakespeare, chief executive at YouGov, said: “During the period we have increased the level of targeted investments in both Shopper and our AI-enabled products, which we believe will reposition our platform as the industry-leading pioneer in the age of AI, enhance the value of our data, improve the client experience and drive operational efficiencies over time. A meaningful proportion of this investment has been directed towards Shopper to enhance its competitive positioning in the market.

“We have also strengthened both our management team and the board, ensuring we have the right expertise and leadership in place to execute on our strategy. With a strong team, a clear focus on disciplined execution and encouraging early interest in our new AI initiatives, I remain confident in our ability to deliver sustainable long-term growth.”