Nielsen Holdings' CEO Discusses Q4 2011 Results - Earnings Call Transcript

Nielsen Holdings N.V. (NLSN)

Q4 2011 Earnings Conference Call

February 06, 2012, 09:00 a.m. ET

Executi

ve

s

Liz Zale - SVP, IR

David Calhoun - CEO

Brian West - CFO

Analyst

s

Suzy Stein - Morgan Stanley

Brian Karimzad - Goldman Sachs

Dave Lewis - JPMorgan Securities

Eric Boyer - Wells Fargo Advisors

Sara Gubins - Bank of America/Merrill Lynch

Bill Warmington - Raymond James

William Bird - Lazard Capital Markets

Doug Arthur - Evercore Partners

Matt Chesler - Deutsche Bank

Kelly Flynn - Credit Suisse

Presentation

Operator

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Ladies and gentlemen thank you for holding and welcome to this conference call on Fourth Quarter and Full-Year 2011 Results for Nielsen Holdings NV. Please note all lines are in listen-only mode at this time. (Operator Instructions) After today’s presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. (Operator Instructions)

I will now turn the call over to the host, Liz Zale, Senior Vice President of Investor Relations. Ms. Zale, please proceed.

Liz Zale

Thank you. Good morning everyone and welcome to Nielsen’s fourth quarter and full-year 2011 call. On the call with me today is David Calhoun, our Chief Executive Officer; and Brian West, our Chief Financial Officer.

Before we begin, I’ll call your attention to the Safe Harbor for forward-looking statements contain within our webcast presentation. The following discussion contains forward-looking statements including those about Nielsen’s outlook and prospects that relates to the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements such as, which are not historical facts, these and other statements that relates to future results and events are based on Nielsen’s current expectations as of today February 6, 2012.

Our actual results in future periods may differ materially from those currently expected because of the number of risks and uncertainties. The risks and uncertainties that we believe are material are outlined in our disclosure filings and materials, which you can find on ir.nielsen.com or the Securities and Exchange Commission’s website sec.gov. Please consult these documents for a more complete understanding of these risks and uncertainties. We disclaim any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required by law. Our outlook is provided for the purpose of providing information about current expectations for 2012. This information may not be appropriate for other purposes.

With that, I will turn the call over to David Calhoun. Dave?

David Calhoun

Thank you, Liz. Hope everyone enjoyed the Super Bowl last evening. I’m going to start with just a sketch of 2011 performance, our first year since we went out with the IPO at the beginning of 2011. Revenue for the year grew 8%, 6% on a constant currency basis. Adjusted EBITDA grew 10%, 8% on a constant currency basis. Net debt leverage declined to 4.0, again very strong performance given the fact that for at least Brian and I, we started at over 9.

We strengthened the balance sheet throughout the year and in addition Brian will share some treasury activities that bring additional strength here coming into 2012. Business conditions in Q4 relative to prior quarters were positive overall. Only trouble spots for us were really natural disaster related and or political, that was the Middle East and Taiwan and in the developing world side. [Taiwan] for us pretty much stopped in its tracks as a result of the flood, but net-net we were up 15% on the year in the developing markets.

On the developed markets clearly things are more cautious. Europe for certain is in the doldrums, it has been, it continues to be and we expect it will continue to be. So, I don’t expect much in terms of variance from any prior or forward periods as a result of that. U.S., most of the clash and a little self-induced as a result of Wal-Mart coming on board with us into the second quarter, such that some analytics that would benefit from deeper Wal-Mart data will be postponed until that moment, but net-net a positive market environment for us.

Our investments continued to be again robust and we continue to execute well. So expanding retail measurement coverage in two specific programs, first Wal-Mart, we’ve been absence for quite a while, but volumes of data are massive, the amount of coding that has to go on is massive. But it’s going on beautifully and we remain on-track for that program again for delivery in the second quarter. And then secondly, global reach and read, we just continue to expand our footprint in the rural parts to China, rural parts of India and across Africa.

Measurement across new platforms and devices and specifically online campaign ratings, I’ve lots of confidence that this change really change in industry approach to the measurement of online campaigns is in full swing and I feel good about that and I’ll talk a little bit about that on the next page. Again, it will be a little while before the financial models play out, but at least in terms of industry advocacy I feel great.

Extending market effectiveness capabilities watching by, this is what started as a niche analytic capabilities that marry or watch in by data for the benefit of advertising campaigns and so forth, that can aid current measures in the hundreds of millions of dollars and we as part of our acquisition strategy with marketing analytics last year this continues to feel very good, very robust for us, it’s a strong double-digit gainer in the analytics space. And then finally, we will take you through our guidance in 2012 very much in line with the long-term framework if not towards the high-end of it.

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