YouGov PLC (LON:YOU), the market research firm, said its current financial year has started in line with management’s expectations.
The company said it has not seen any material impact from the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic thus far but said it recognises that marketing budgets could come under pressure if the current situation drags on.
The company saw revenue rise 12% to £152.4mln in the year to the end of July from £136.5mln the year before.
Adjusted profit before tax, which excludes what the company regards as exceptional items, rose 25% to £25.7mln from £20.6mln the previous year. The statutory profit before tax was £15.2mln, down 22% year-on-year.
The dividend has been bumped up by a quarter to 5p from the previous year’s payout of 4p.
"We have made good strategic progress in the year with the UK and US continuing to be our key revenue and profit drivers. Our strong performance against the backdrop of a highly challenging market in the second half of our financial year was down to the hard work of our people and trust of our clients who more than ever need actionable, accurate and timely data from which to make informed decisions as they navigate through the current situation,” said Stephan Shakespeare.
“Having demonstrated the resilience of our business model in the past year, we believe that YouGov is well-positioned to continue the progress made on our strategic pillars and to evolve into a true activation platform with capabilities beyond market research. We are on track to deliver in line with our long-term strategic growth plan and trading since the end of the financial year has been in line with the board's expectations," he added,
Shares in YouGov were up 3.3% to 935p in the first half-hour of trading.