The firm, which evaluates new products and advertising campaigns in 70 countries, is confident of hitting expected levels of turnover and said it was on track to deliver anticipated improvement in operating margin in 2004.
European markets are said to be mixed within regions, but have been improving overall, and the Americas are recovering. Asia Pacific continue to be buoyant for the first half of 2004 and TNS said it should deliver strong underlying growth in that region for the first half.
On a sector basis, media intelligence has delivered a better performance year on year as has healthcare. Consumer and IT and telecoms have shown good underlying growth while the business services sector appears to be stabilising.
Reported turnover and operating profit show a significant increase following the acquisition of NFO WorldGroup for $425m in July 2003, but that figure will be impacted by the weakness in the dollar and euro.
The merger with NFO means the group is on track to increase full-year reported operating margins, before goodwill and integration costs, by 50 to 100 basis points.
Mike Kirkham, Taylor Nelson Sofres chief executive, said: "We are progressing with the integration in Europe and the initiatives we are taking in 2004 will provide a strong foundation from which the group will be able to meet its objective of growing turnover ahead of the market in future years."
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