Taylor Nelson Sofres Sees Flat Revenues In 2002

The slowdown in the market information industry during the second half of last year has resulted in organic turnover at Taylor Nelson Sofres (TNS) coming in more or less flat for the year, the company announced in a trading statement.

The market research group said that continuous and syndicated services have performed well, with the exception of media intelligence, which has been hit by the lack of recovery in the advertising and public relations sectors.

TNS says that the UK will report a decline in underlying activities, due to the ongoing effect of the loss of the BARB television audience research contract and further weakness in custom business towards the end of the second half.

Taylor Nelson notes that the timing and speed of any upturn in the market for custom research is dependent on the rate of economic recovery, which is itself not necessarily looking that strong at present, according to an analysis from Deloitte & Touche.

TNS says that the continuous and syndicated market continues to maintain steady growth and that new products and services are being well received. The group therefore anticipates achieving further organic turnover growth in 2003.

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