Despite the decline in revenues, the firm said it was recovering from losses last year related to internal restructuring. It posted $1.8m in operating income, compared to a $4.3m loss last year which was due to $5.4m in restructuring charges.

Meanwhile, net income stood at $1.7m, compared to a $6m loss in the same period last year.

Al Angrisani (pictured), president and CEO at Harris Interactive, said: “We made further progress in our turnaround programme during the first quarter. Our profitability improved in the quarter, largely due to the successful turnaround of our UK business and the rightsizing of our cost structure, and we continued our focus on accepting higher margin work and paying down our existing bank debt. Despite the profitability improvement, we are still working to address sales and marketing challenges in several of our business units.”

The firm was due to hold a conference call this afternoon, but has had to reschedule due to “logistical complications” caused by Hurricane Sandy.