While the company’s organic growth was positive at +1.5%, currency effects had a negative effect of -7.3%.

Operating profit for the first half was €45.6m, down 10% from the same period in 2017.

Revenue for the second quarter was €419m, down 5.6% compared to Q2 2017. The company attributed the decrease to negative currency effects, which stood at -6.5% in Q2 (-8% in Q1 ) and the transition to international reporting standards IFRS 15, with organic growth for the quarter (+1.2%) only going some way to offset these negative impacts.

Marketing research was the best performing business line during the first half of the year, representing €416.7m, while media and advertising research accounted for €166.4m, followed by client and employee relationship management (€112.9m) and opinion and social research (€89.9m).

New services, which were introduced from 2015 onwards, recorded an increase of 12% in the first half of the year, and revenue from Asia-Pacific showed a constant increase, with this region’s revenue representing almost 20% of the company’s total business.