PARIS (Agefi-Dow Jones)–The survey group Ipsos announced on Wednesday that it is aiming for an increase in its gross margin in 2022, “which will help to defend the operating margin by maintaining it at a level structurally higher than that of before the pandemic, between 12% and 13% for 2022”.
“We expect to consolidate in 2022 the record performances recorded at the end of the previous financial year, with a reference growth close to 5% and an underlying growth close to 7%, excluding the temporary net positive impact of the contracts. related to Covid (specific pandemic follow-up projects for governments, less contracts that could not be put in place due to the health situation)”, underlined Ipsos.
The group made these projections while its gross margin stood at 1.38 billion euros in 2021 – up 17.7% – showing a gross margin rate of 64.7% compared to its turnover against 64.2% in 2020.
In 2021, Ipsos’ adjusted net income increased by 61.4%, as the group benefited from the pandemic monitoring studies carried out for certain Western governments, the acceleration of the transition to online surveys and savings on general expenses incurred as part of its “Call To Action” plan.
Its adjusted net income stood at 209.2 million euros last year, compared to 129.6 million euros in 2020. The net income group share was 183.9 million. euros, compared to 109.5 million euros in 2020.
At the same time, its operating margin increased by 46.1%, to 277.4 million euros – representing 12.9% of turnover – against 189.9 million euros the previous year, i.e. 10.3% of turnover.
Turnover for its part increased by 16.8%, to 2.14 billion euros. According to the FactSet consensus, analysts on average expected a net profit of 164 million euros and a turnover of 2.15 billion euros.
“We are convinced that our growth will continue in 2022, although at a slower pace than in 2021,” warned Ipsos. “This reflects the end of the main phase of the pandemic, and therefore, government plans related to Covid in certain major markets,” noted the survey research group.
“Pressure on customer margins could reduce advertising and search spend for some of our consumer customers, who remain a major component of our customer base, although so far in 2022 we have not have seen no decline in their spending,” Ipsos reported.
Ipsos will propose the payment of a dividend of 1.15 euros per share for 2021 against 90 euro cents per share for 2020.
-Eric Chalmet, Agefi-Dow Jones; 01 41 27 47 95; [email protected] ed: VAT
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http://www.ipsos.com/french/communiques_financiers
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February 23, 2022 13:10 ET (18:10 GMT)