Ipsos

Ipsos SA

Type	Société anonyme
Traded as	Euronext: IPS
Industry	Market research Public opinion research
Founded	1975 (1975)
Founder	Didier Truchot
Headquarters	Paris, France[1]
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Didier Truchot (Chairman and CEO)
Revenue	€1.36 billion (2011)[2]
Operating income	€131.59 million (2011)[2]
Profit	€90.37 million (2011)[2]
Total assets	€2.23 billion (2011)[2]
Total equity	€891.57 million (2011)[2]

Ipsos (French pronunciation: ​[ip.so])^[3] is a global market research company with worldwide headquarters in Paris, France. The company was founded in 1975 and has been publicly traded on the Paris Stock Exchange since 1 July 1999. Since 1990, the Group has created or acquired numerous companies throughout the world, and as of 2012, has offices in 84 countries. In October 2011, Ipsos acquired Synovate, resulting in a newly combined Ipsos organization that ranks as the world’s third largest research agency.^[1][4]

History

First years in France

Ipsos was founded in 1975^[1] by Didier Truchot, who had experience working in the IFOP and ISOS institutes.

Truchot centered in offering services to the advertising and media companies and developed methods to measure the success of their campaigns, something new in France. The first of these methods was the Baramètre d'Affichage (BAF), an instrument to analyze the effectiveness of billboard advertisements. It was followed by an instrument specific for media and, in 1979, the France des Cadres Actifs (FCA), which was used to determine reading habits of French executives.

Despite the success, the company's profitability remained at modest levels until the arrival of Jean-Marc Lech as co-chairman. From then on, it started to perform public opinion researches, another innovative activity in the French market. By the end of the '80s, it was the fifth largest media research company in France. The great activity of French policymakers at the time helped to strengthen the position of the company, especially the public opinion research sector.^[5]

European expansion

During the 90s, Ipsos expanded, principally through acquisitions, to Spain, Italy, Germany, the United Kingdom and Central Europe, especially Hungary.

In 1992, the company was opened to private investment to improve its purchasing capital. The first new shareholder was Baring Private Equity. Truchot y Lecht, the major accionists [shareholders?], retained two-thirds of the company.^[5]

Global expansion

In the mid-'90s Ipsos was one of the most important research companies in Europe and decided to expand globally. With the objective of pursuing its global expansion, Ipsos took on new investment partners, selling 40 percent of the company to Artemis Group, led by François Pinault, and the Amstar investment fund led by Walter Butler.

In 1997, Ipsos entered into the South American market with the acquisition of Novaction and also into the North American, with the purchase of the American company ASI Market Research, a leading advertising researcher.

In 1999, Ipsos was listed on the Paris stock exchange. The successful offering enabled Artemis and Amstar to cash out on their investments and also gave Ipsos the possibility to continue its expansion. Then, it participated of the creation of an Internet audience research joint-venture, MMXI Europe, with the majority of shares held by partner Media Matrix and 20 percent by Ipsos. The company also took control of four subsidiaries of NFO Worldwide specializing in the formation of access panels. The expansion continued in Asia, South America and especially in North America (with the purchase of the Canadian company Angus Reid, renamed Ipsos-Reid).

At the end of 2000, Didier Truchot and Jean-Marc Lech retired from the company's direction, naming Pierre Giacommetti and Stephane Truchi in the management. Nonetheless, they remained active in the company as co-chairmen of the board.^[5]

In 2011, Ipsos acquired Aegis Group Plc's Synovate division.^[6]

Business specialization

Ipsos has organized its business into several areas of specialization: advertising research; marketing research; media, content and technology research; opinion polls and social research; loyalty, quality and customer relationship management research; and survey management, data collection and delivery.

Financial performance

Ipsos revenues totaled €1,362.9 million in 2011, up 19.5% percent on 2010, with an organic growth rate of 2 percent. In 2011, Ipsos derived 43% of its revenue from the EMEA region (Europe, the Middle East and Africa), 42% from the Americas region, and 15% from the Asia-Pacific region.^[7]

Top 10 of the Market Research Sector 2011

Source: Honomichl Globe Top 25, Published in the 3 August 2011 issue of Marketing News.^[4]

Subsidiaries

• Ipsos MORI
• Ipsos Reid
• Ipsos Public Affairs
• Ipsos ASI
• Ipsos Insight
• Ipsos Observer
• Ipsos Archway
• Ipsos Interactive Services
• Ipsos UU
• Ipsos Novaction
• Ipsos Vantis
• Ipsos Loyalty
• Ipsos Bimsa
• Ipsos Alfacom
• Ipsos Apoyo
• Livra.com
• Ipsos Markinor (Ipsos South Africa)^[8]

Notes

External links

• Ipsos North America website
• Ipsos website

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