Yougov Share Discussion Threads

[brianmax] 08/12/2006 10:33

If they do as well with this partnership as they did with the last one in the Middle East it should liven things up some what.

I must say I am suprised that todays news has not caused a greater movement in the share price ?

[2pups] 08/12/2006 08:07

YouGov PLC
08 December 2006


YouGov plc

YouGov enters US market through strategic partnership with Polimetrix

Strategic Partnership

8 December 2006 - YouGov plc ("YouGov" or the "Company"), the UK's leading
online market research agency, announced today that it has committed to make a
significant strategic investment in Polimetrix Inc ("Polimetrix"), an online
political and social research agency founded in 2004 by Stanford Professor
Douglas Rivers.

Under the terms of the transaction, YouGov will subscribe for 5,360,000 new
shares in Polimetrix, a Delaware corporation based in Palo Alto, for
approximately £3.8 million in return for a 32% shareholding. At closing, YouGov
will also have an option to purchase the remaining outstanding shares and
options of Polimetrix, within 30 months of this announcement. The initial
consideration will be met from the Company's existing cash reserves. The Board
of Polimetrix will be made up of 5 directors including two YouGov
representatives Nadhim Zahawi and Stephan Shakespeare.

The funds from this investment will be used to bring YouGov products to the
American market and to expand Polimetrix's capabilities through the
cross-licensing of technology and intellectual property as well as a joint
selling arrangement which will allow YouGov to sell Polimetrix's products
internationally, excluding the USA and Canada, and Polimetrix to sell YouGov's
products, including BrandIndex, in the USA and Canada. The Board anticipates
that the investment will be earnings enhancing in the first full year of
ownership.

Polimetrix was founded in 2004 by Stanford University Political Science
Professor Douglas Rivers and has offices in Palo Alto, California and Washington
, D.C. Polimetrix currently has a staff of twenty experts in survey research,
political science, statistics, and information technology, eight of whom have
PhDs in survey methodology and political science. Polimetrix maintains the
PollingPoint panel, which is comprised of 1.08 million U.S. residents.

Polimetrix has distinguished itself by achieving the same high level of proven
accuracy in US elections, as YouGov has in Britain and which has made YouGov the
pre-eminent polling organisation in the United Kingdom. In 2005, Polimetrix
accurately forecast the outcome of seven propositions in the California Special
Election, surpassing all but one other traditional pollster. In 2006, Polimetrix
conducted the largest ever congressional election study, covering 44 Senate and
gubernatorial races. The clients for this project were 32 American Universities,
including Harvard, Yale, Stanford, MIT and UCLA. The Polimetrix forecasts had a
high degree of quantitative accuracy, which is substantially better than other
US Internet surveys.

Commenting on the move into the American market Nadhim Zahawi, Co-founder and
Chief Executive of YouGov, said:

"The Polimetrix team has a successful track record in the rapidly expanding
online research market and shares our strong belief in the benefits of
competitively priced, accurate and timely online market research. The team at
Polimetrix share our passion and cultural beliefs. YouGov has already had
considerable interest in both BrandIndex and YGX from international companies.
Acquiring this stake in Polimetrix is consistent with our prudent approach to
entering new markets, such as the US, where we are looking to build our
business."

Stephan Shakespeare, Co-founder and Chief Innovation Officer of YouGov,
commented: "The two companies are ideally suited to become the pre-eminent
pioneers of innovative market and opinion research in America. While online
methodology has been widely embraced by the industry in America, the use of
internet for public and media work lags behind the UK. The Polimetrix approach
of producing large scale, accurate data for highly respected public clients,
exactly mirrors that of YouGov."

Commenting on the opportunity to launch BrandIndex in North America, Douglas
Rivers CEO of Polimetrix commented, "We are very excited about introducing
BrandIndex to America, the world's largest research market. It would have been
impossible before the existence of the Internet to provide brand owners with
instant feedback about the performance and perceptions of their companies and
products. This promises to bring a new era to brand stewardship at a time when
corporates are increasingly focused on the value and perception of their
brands."

Current Trading

At today's AGM, Peter Kellner, Chairman of the Board of YouGov, will confirm
that the current year has started well with trading in both the UK and Middle
East in line with the Board's expectations.

ENQUIRIES:

YouGov plc Tel: [phone]
Nadhim Zahawi
Katherine Lee

Polimetrix Inc Tel: [phone]
Douglas Rivers

Financial Dynamics Tel: [phone]
Tim Spratt



This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

[theophilus] 05/12/2006 16:59

RNS Number:3107N
YouGov PLC
05 December 2006


5 December 2006

YouGov plc - Holding(s) in the Company

YouGov PLC ("the Company") was notified on 5 December 2006 that Fidelity
International Limited (FIL), together with its direct and indirect subsidiaries, both being non-beneficial holders, holds 1,071,394 ordinary shares of 1p each in the Company, representing 8.01% of the Company's issued share capital.

[cr4zyness] 24/11/2006 13:47

24 November 2006

Pick up a bargain


Who would have thought that a curry restaurant and a pizza-delivery company would generate annual returns of 61 per cent and 78 per cent, respectively? Or that a market-research company would return almost 200 per cent in a single year? Yet that's exactly what happened when we implemented legendary fund manager Peter Lynch's strategy of keeping an eye out for great investments in our everyday lives. If you had followed Mr Lynch's strategy as outlined in our article 'Ten shares that will deliver', in November last year, you'd have ended up with investments in businesses including restaurant group Clapham House, pizza group Domino's, and internet pollster YouGov. And the average gain of all 10 shares in the portfolio has been 73 per cent (see table below).

Peter Lynch proved the success of this strategy by running Fidelity's Magellan fund for 13 years - and generating mind-blowing annualised returns of 29.2 per cent over the period. He used a variety of methods, including buying big-cap turnaround stocks, as well as dull-but-steadily-growing shares. However, he always preached that, as an investor, you should stick to what you know. In fact, his argument is similar to Warren Buffett's. "Invest within your circle of competence," said Buffett. "It's not how big the circle is that counts, it is how well you define the parameters," he added. "Big money is made by obvious things."

So that's exactly what we did with our Peter Lynch portfolio. There was no stock that the average investor couldn't get his or her head around. Here, then, is a review of the original 10 shares, followed by our new 10. When deciding which shares to hold on to, and which to swap for new ones, we kept in mind what Mr Lynch describes as the most dangerous things investors can say:

- If it's gone down this much already, how much lower can it go?

- If it's gone this high already, how can it possibly go higher?

- Eventually, they always come back.

- It's only $3 a share, what can I lose?

- It's always darkest before dawn.

- When it rebounds to my cost, I'll sell.

- What? Me? Worry? Conservative stocks don't fluctuate much.

- Look at all the money I lost - I didn't buy it!

- I missed that one. I'll catch the next one.

- The stock has gone up - so I must be right!

The best performers in our Lynch portfolio were YouGov and Debt Free Direct, both of which are smaller companies doing well in rapidly growing niche markets. The worst performer was International Greetings, which was essentially flat. There are some general lessons that can be learnt, though. One of these is that our big winners had already been big winners. YouGov and Debt Free Direct had already made strong gains before we put them in this portfolio. But the strength of their business model and their growth was such that share-price gains kept coming. Most people are too scared to buy stocks that have put in good performances. But Peter Lynch has pointed out that you often have plenty of time. He notes, for example, that if you bought Wal-Mart after it rose 10-fold in its first 10 years, it still rose 60-fold in the next 30 years.

Another lesson is that big gains come from small- to medium-sized companies with clear, well-defined businesses. Lookers, for example, sells cars and does it well. It is not inherently difficult to understand what it does.

Below, we've updated the portfolio with nine new stocks and one carried over from last year's list. They are still easy to understand and most investors have contact with them in their daily lives.

Dignity

Funeral home and crematorium operator Dignity is the biggest player in the UK 'death' market. It runs 520 funeral homes, which handle around 12.3 per cent of the deaths in the UK. It also has 22 crematoria, which handle 7.1 per cent of deaths. This provides a steady income stream, but there are also growth opportunities, including consolidation within the industry. Traditionally, funeral parlours were 'mum and dad' operations, so Dignity has been acquiring the best of these businesses and then bringing its management skills to bear upon them. It also sells pre-paid funeral plans and currently has 185,000 unfulfilled plans in place.

Entertainment Rights

Peter Lynch believes in looking for potential investment ideas in the products and services that we encounter in everyday life. And while it may not be a household name itself, Entertainment Rights' (ER) children's characters - which include Basil Brush and Rupert the Bear - certainly are. ER has also recently struck a deal with Mattel, the world's largest toy company, for the long-term distribution rights for Barbie films. Admittedly, the company appeared to have a tough first half, but that was due to its policy of recognising new sales when programmes are delivered rather than when they are commissioned. This year, a large number of program deliveries fall in the second half, so profits will be strong then. What's more, ER is likely to be a takeover target - peers such as HIT Entertainment and Chorion have already been snapped up by private-equity players.

BSkyB

Anyone who watches Premiership Football will be familiar with Sky. But parent company BSkyB hasn't always had a fantastic relationship with the market, which is continually concerned with Rupert Murdoch's control and the prospect of competition. Even so, the company is a fantastic cash generator, which provides it with funds to keep investing in new products and services and thus maintain a competitive advantage. And under the leadership of chief executive James Murdoch, the company is continuing to innovate. For example, the Sky+ box, a personal video recorder, has become extremely popular. Other new products include the Sky Gnome, a small unit that allows a subscriber to listen to Sky content anywhere in their house. BSkyB is also pushing into the competitive world of broadband. It can now offer pay-TV, broadband internet and telephone connections all in one package. That should mean that fewer customers cancel their subscriptions, which is a big issue facing pay-TV companies.

Carluccio's

In our last Peter Lynch feature, we picked Clapham House because I had been to the Bombay Bicycle Club and Gourmet Burger Kitchen and enjoyed the food. I also noticed that they were packed. So when I was sitting in Carluccio's recently I was interested to see that it, too, was packed - at 9.30am. The company was founded by Antonio and Priscilla Carluccio in 1991 with the opening of an authentic Italian food shop in Covent Garden. It opened five new Italian deli-style restaurants in the most recent financial year, taking the total to 27. That is now translating into higher sales and profits - for the year to 24 September, sales grew 24 per cent, with pre-tax profits ahead of expectations. The company is planning to open a further five new outlets this financial year - it has already opened one in Brunswick and has secured a site in Walton-on-Thames.

YELL

Yell runs directories businesses in the UK, the US, Europe and Latin America. In the UK, it prints the well-known Yellow Pages, which is delivered to every home in the country, and operates the website yell.com. In fact, the company dominates the UK directories market, with a 75 per cent share. But that dominance triggered an investigation by The Competition Commission, which ruled that the directories market was uncompetitive. However, the commission recently approved a price increase in line with inflation after April 2008. It recognised that directory listings could fall off in the future as more and more companies list online. It also recognised that BT's entry into the market could increase competition. Despite this possibility of greater competition, though, Yell's business will continue to be an excellent cash generator for years to come, protected by its strong market position. Only when you start to notice that the Yellow Pages delivered to your door each year is getting thinner should you consider selling. From a technical analysis perspective, Yell's share price also remains in a strong uptrend.

YouGov

If it's gone this high already, how can it possibly go higher? This is one of the most interesting of Lynch's 'most dangerous things' people say about the stock market. It's also one of the most difficult things investors have to grapple with: if a share has risen, is it too late to buy in? YouGov is a classic example. It has been one of the biggest winners in the portfolio, but is it too late to get in now? The company provides online surveys and opinion polling for newspapers such as The Sun and The Sunday Times, as well as a number of corporate clients. And it has an easily understandable business model that is clearly revolutionising its niche. It is also scalable because it is internet based and can keep adding more clients without increasing costs significantly. But the company is not resting on its laurels and has launched BrandIndex, which tracks consumer perceptions of more than 1,000 well-known brands. For these reasons, we're including it in the portfolio despite the big gains it has already made.

Tesco

Last time around, we included a large-cap stock, British American Tobacco, to complement the many small and mid-cap companies in our portfolio. It performed solidly and added an element of defensiveness to the portfolio. So supermarket giant Tesco is a good replacement. Most of us shop there at some point and can see for ourselves what a slick operation it is and how it dominates high streets around the nation. And, despite its size, Tesco is generating impressive growth. In the first half, profits surged 23 per cent, helped by cost-cutting. The company is also expanding offshore, including in South Korea and Poland, to diversify away from the competitive UK market. Of course, that expansion could bring dangers, but it is going well so far. Tesco is also offering a broader range of goods, including clothes and books, and non-food items now make up 20 per cent of sales. This is one to hold for the long term.

Avanti screenmedia

Avanti Screenmedia has finally cracked the lucrative supermarket sector with its plasma-screen networks. These screens allow companies to target customers while they're in a store - and they currently reach 12m customers a week. The company recently struck a deal with SPAR, which chief executive David Williams says could "open the floodgates". It's also a positive sign, after the mixed performance of Tesco TV, which is shown in Tesco stores. Tesco slowed the roll-out of plasma screens to its stores after a luke-warm response from advertisers. But Wal-Mart has had success in the states with televisions in its stores and the SPAR deal gives Avanti the chance to show the benefits of its plasma-screen network. The company also has a satellite operation, which has attractive economics. It is launching a HYLAS satellite in 2008 and is already selling capacity. There are limited satellite slots, but demand is surging with the proliferation of pay-TV and digital channels. The introduction of high-definition television (HDTV) is further boosting demand as it consumes 10 times more bandwidth than conventional television.

Speedy Hire

The UK's legion of DIY renovators are probably familiar with Speedy Hire, which is the market leader in the tool-hire sector. The company has been growing rapidly through acquisitions and is consolidating the market in the process. It believes the total tool-hire market in the UK will be worth some £5bn next year. But Speedy Hire is not just targeting the DIY market. It is increasingly exposing itself to the larger construction industry, which tends to be more stable and less reliant on the housing market.

In a recent trading update, the company said turnover in the five months to 31 August grew 29 per cent. Tool hire turnover rose a solid 8 per cent on an underlying basis, while the equipment-hire division saw turnover surge 29 per cent. The company has also said that it is continuing to win market share and is on track to deliver another year of good growth. There are broader beneficial trends, too, including new health and safety legislation that gives impetus to hire rather than own tools and equipment.

While everyone loves to whinge about incumbent telecoms providers, I'm going to be contrarian. I thought my broadband and telephone service from BT was quite good. Sure, from a price perspective, it may not have been the cheapest, but I never suffered any problems with the broadband service - and that is important to me. So while BT, along with other broadband providers, is facing growing competition from the likes of Carphone Warehouse and BSkyB, it has plenty of flexibility to respond and has introduced lower-priced packages and new content. Admittedly, its traditional phone service is in decline, but it is more than offsetting that with growth from what it dubs 'new wave' services, including networked IT services and mobile phones. One big growth area is providing networked IT services to governments and companies. and BT has an advantage in this market because it has a global network. Further profit growth should also come from cost-cutting.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Our 1st Lynch Portfolio


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
company purchase current change
price (p) price (p) (%)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Domino's 306 546 +78.6
James Halstead 322 464 +44.1
International Greetings 433 440 +1.6
Body Shop 251 530* +111.2
British American Tobacco 1,263 1,458 +15.4
Debt Free Direct 198 425 +114.6
Clapham House 171 276 +61.4
YouGov 270 805 +198.1
Care UK 471 550 +16.8

[m.t.glass] 24/11/2006 13:30

Got itself a mention today in Investors Chronicle I gather. Don't know what was said.

[cr4zyness] 16/11/2006 09:15

I know fantastic, this company really does have a global business model, and as internet is the place for media etc, I see the next 5 years this company will be the next google, ebay etc

[m.t.glass] 16/11/2006 09:10

Cr4 - if you want to see just how many surveys they are now churning out, try a google news search for yougov

[cr4zyness] 16/11/2006 09:06

I think this company is still undervalued, Brandex for me is the trump card, in its 2nd year and when the big boys take a slice of the action, Mcdonalds, Coca Cola etc then thats when the profits really will come in, at £25,000 a time, 500 contracts £12,500,000 per year without other revenues.

PS did you know John Humpries holds a considerable amount!

[m.t.glass] 16/11/2006 08:58

Dunno CR4 - fair possibility I guess. But if it's still growing apace at the time I hope they go for a four or fiveway split and don't pither about with a 2-way. The admin costs incurred are the same whichever, so it sometimes seems daft when fastgrowing companies simply go for a 2-way split and then have to process the same again within a year.

mtg

PS: It might not be long before we find out if it carries on like it has been. It took only 7 weeks to climb from 500 to 600p, 6 weeks for the next 100p, and 5 weeks for this latest 100p. It's doubled since the April results.

[cr4zyness] 16/11/2006 08:52

MT,

Whats your view on a possible share split as price gets closer to £10?

[cr4zyness] 15/11/2006 19:02

Exactly MT your posts are welcome!

[m.t.glass] 15/11/2006 18:32

Anything above 748p share price brings capitalisation onto the radar screens of those fund mangagers who only look at stuff from £100m upwards.

[silverfern] 14/11/2006 10:15

Diogenes: I agree it's all in the forecasts, and so some risk, and my point was that PEG, p/e, yield whilst not being irrelevant are never the whole picture. Private Eye's coverage of JS is always a cheerful read!

[cr4zyness] 14/11/2006 09:46

yeah I do and can confrim they are sending them thru more regular!

[m.t.glass] 14/11/2006 09:42

Does everybody here participate in Yougov's online surveys?
(As mentioned in header).
If not, go to the main website
and select the panel tab (top right)

[diogenesj] 14/11/2006 08:42

He did very well, silver, both before and after his company went spectacularly bust in 1972. :-)

The figures that could be lying here are the forecasts. The market is betting that YOU will beat them handsomely imo. In view of the recent t/s from RNOW, that view may well be correct.

[silverfern] 14/11/2006 08:12

I appreciate figures never lie, but this company seems extremely well place and will find markets where margins can be grow. Slater seems to have a cachet on BBs now which belies his past.

[diogenesj] 12/11/2006 14:02

Well, the prospective PE is now considerably higher than the projected growth rate, which on Jim Slater's PEG system makes YOU look expensive. Current margins do appear to be very high, but one has to wonder whether they are sustainable (very high margins tend to be eroded by competition over time).

[brianmax] 12/11/2006 13:50

Thanks for that Diogenes - I will have a look at TOL & TMU

YOU PER seems OK to me - Why do you consider it expensive ?

[diogenesj] 12/11/2006 13:43

No, the brokers forecast eps for each year, and I worked out the PEs based on Friday's share prices. The PEs will change as the share prices or the eps (actual or forecast) go up or down. The current high PEs are likely to last only as long as explosive growth in eps continues, but that could be for some time.

YOU now looks a bit expensive to me, but it has momentum behind it and I'm holding anyway. I'm also holding RNOW, TOL and TMN. It's a good area to be in it at the moment, imo. :-)

[brianmax] 12/11/2006 13:10

Diogenes

are the broker prospective PEs based on current share prices ?

If the current PE for YOU is 34 ish - are the brokers saying that they dont expect much of an increase in the share price or are they saying the share price will track the EPS by about a PE of 30 ? (which seems to be about right for the sector)

Not questioning your comments at all - just trying to fathom things out and decide which of the two co's would offer the best option of investment into this sector.

[diogenesj] 12/11/2006 12:48

Oops, fat finger again. Yes, £9.47m it was. Corrected my post. Yes again: YOU's margins appear to be much better than RNOW's, which probably goes some way towards explaining the apparently much higher rating.

[brianmax] 12/11/2006 12:42

I thought sales YOU 2006 = 9,47m and with a profit of 4m ? -

Which ever it is - isn't the ratio of profit to sales better for YOU than RNOW ?

[diogenesj] 12/11/2006 12:13

Sales for the year to
July 2006 YOU £9.47m
Oct 2006 RNOW (broker's estimate) £9.64m

More important than the past, of course, is the future.

Prospective PEs (based on current broker forecasts):

RNOW
2007 20.62x
2008 14.11x

YOU
2007 30.45x
2008 24.81x

There is an element of doubt here, because RNOW seems to be covered by only one broker (Canaccord Adams), whereas YOU has three. And I have found Canaccord Adams tending to err on the side of optimism in the past. Still, on the face of it, RNOW is now bigger than YOU, growing faster, and considerably cheaper, if these forecasts are correct.

[brianmax] 12/11/2006 12:12

Sorry, yes you are correct.

I was calculating my figs on the profit -

However, considering the almost identical turn overs v profits made by both companies it seems YOU have a much more efficient business model and I still consider them a better proposition to invest in out of the two - unless I am missing something (again)