Sales momentum accelerates at YouGov despite challenging economic backdrop

Research and data firm YouGov has said sales momentum accelerated in the latest quarter despite a “challenging macro-economic environment”.

The London-based company told shareholders it is therefore confident of meeting its guidance for the financial year, as it cheered the “resilient performance”.

YouGov said recent trading has been buoyed by stable demand is in its data products and research divisions.

It also highlighted positive sales from the technology sector, but said some other sector areas “have been more challenging”.

It reported that revenues grew on a like-for-like basis over the half-year to January, accounting for currency headwinds and the impact of acquisitions.

On Friday, YouGov said: “The board remains cognisant of the challenging market conditions and client budget pressures as we move into the second half of the financial year.

“Clients are increasingly looking for high-quality, data-driven solutions, and while we continue to experience longer sales cycles, we remain confident in our products and our sales momentum which, after a slow Q1, has significantly accelerated in Q2.

“Therefore, we remain confident in achieving current market expectations for the full year, underpinned by our robust sales pipeline as of January 2024.”

YouGov also stressed that it has seen a “positive response” from workers and clients since completing its 315 million euro (£268 million) takeover of German rival GfK’s consumer services business.

Fiona Orford-Williams, director of technology, media and telecoms at Edison Group, said: “YouGov’s first half trading update is a bit of a mixed bag, with plenty of cautionary notes but also reassurance that the group should meet market expectations for the full year to end July.

“There’s been plenty to do internally, with the completion of the GfK Consumer Panel Services deal and the start of the integration, and the good news here is that this business has done better than anticipated since it was first announced.

“Sales cycles continue to be frustratingly long, but YouGov seems to be performing better with the tech sector than is reportedly the case for other market participants.”