9th Feb 2017 09:17
LONDON (Alliance News) - Market research agency BrainJuicer Group PLC on Thursday posted a 38% year-on-year increase in pretax profit for 2016, and tabled plans to rebrand its business.
BrainJuicer said its revenue for the year came in at GBP31.2 million, up 24% from the GBP25.2 million reported a year earlier, driving the rise in pretax profit to GBP6.2 million from GBP4.5 million.
The group said its strong first half performance had continued into its second half, with a particularly good performance from both its Ad Testing and Brand Tracking businesses.
BrainJuicer said gross profit in its operations in the US increased 40% year-on-year, with the geography now its largest by a "significant margin", making up 42% of its total gross profit in 2016. The agency said it saw a strong rebound in its Continental European operations after a decline in 2015, though in the UK gross profit declined due to "sharp declines" in two large clients for "specific reasons" for both clients.
Looking forward, BrainJuicer said it is looking to roll out the business development processes it implemented in the US across its other regions, but particularly in the UK, and has appointed the head of its Americas business Alex Hunt to lead its market research account management function globally. Hunt will also be appointed to the board with effect from April 1.
The group is planning to change its financial year to mean it ends on March 31 and not December 31, and as such said it will post 15-month results to the end of March in June and then report a final dividend.
BrainJuicer said it will continue to focus on its core products, noting they provide more revenue visibility than its other products, but said its business still largely has "limited visibility" and it cannot predict how much revenue growth will unfold over the coming year.
"As we think about the longer term, we are planning on a re-branding of the business to present a unified theme across our market research and advertising agency businesses and to reflect our behavioural science prominence," BrainJuicer said.
Shares in BrainJuicer were down 0.8% at 724.00 pence on Thursday morning.
By Hannah Boland; [email protected]; @Hannaheboland
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