Financial Results
Interim Results
07 September 2004
Results for the six months ended 30 June 2004
Investment strategy delivers good growth across the board
Highlights 2004
| 6 months
ended June 30 2004 |
6 months ended June 30 2003 |
Reported Growth |
Growth at Constant Currency |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | £338.9m | £294.7m | +15.0% | +21.3% |
| Gross Profit | £294.5m | £263.2m | +11.9% | +17.4% |
| Underlying Operating Profit* | £39.3m | £33.5m | +17.3% | +21.0% |
| Underlying PBT* | £36.4m | £30.9m | +17.8% | +22.4% |
- Organic revenue growth 6.6% at constant currencies
- Gross margin up to 8.1% (2003: 7.6%)
- Research revenues up 31.4% (44.8% at constant currency) to £122.8m (2003: £93.5m)
- Strong new business performance with net new media billings of $1,156.2 million
- Synovate orders in hand significantly ahead of last year
- Underlying diluted earnings per share up 17.6% to 2.21 p (2003: 1.88p)
- UK GAAP diluted earnings per share 1.05p (2003: 0.27p)
- Dividend up 10.6% to 0.575p per share
- Good performance expected for the full year