YouGov has completed a deal for generative AI company Yabble as its share price continues to rebound following a disastrous start to the year.
Shares in YouGov, which announced the swoop for the New Zealand company earlier this month, have jumped more than 90% in the last 30 days. They have climbed from 439p to 538p since the deal was made public.
However their value remains half that seen at the start of the calendar year – 1,220p – after it dropped off a cliff in June thanks to a downgrading of its revenue and profit forecasts.
The deal for Yabble means YouGov now expects to report revenue of around 拢330 million, 拢3m than reported in June, with adjusted operating profit upgraded from 拢43m to 拢46m for the full year.
The market research and data analytics firm is paying an initial 拢4.5m for Yabble, a pioneer in the use of generative artificial intelligence to deliver audience insights.
The initial cash consideration was funded through existing cash resources, with the sellers agreeing to apply a portion of the cash proceeds towards a phased subscription for ordinary shares in YouGov at their market value.
The conditions in respect of the second and final payment of the initial cash consideration have now been met. An application has been made to the London Stock Exchange for 151,579 new ordinary shares of 0.2 pence each in the company to be admitted to AIM.
There could also be a three-year earn-out, contingent on revenue targets, with the sellers reinvesting part of the proceeds into YouGov shares.
YouGov has worked with Yabble over the past year on the launch of its first client-facing AI product, YouGov AI Qual Explorer.
鈥淚 have seen how powerful the combination of YouGov鈥檚 data and Yabble鈥檚 technology is鈥� I am excited for more clients to experience this,鈥� said YouGov chief executive Steve Hatch.
鈥淭his acquisition will transform the way our clients derive insights from YouGov Profiles鈥� 2m datapoints and gain maximum value from YouGov鈥檚 unique dataset.鈥�
Kathryn Topp (pictured), Yabble co-founder and chief executive, added: 鈥淭he best AI runs on the best quality data and YouGov鈥檚 proprietary panel is the gold standard in attitude and opinion data.
鈥淭he combination of Yabble鈥檚 cutting-edge AI tools and YouGov鈥檚 quality dataset will provide clients with the best, fastest, most effortless insights available.鈥�
As of 31st July 2024, YouGov鈥檚 cash resources stood at around 拢70m.