Inventive online market researcher BrainJuicer squeezed out a debut profit last year before costs associated with its £1.4m December IPO.

Led by John Kearon, formerly of Publicis and Unilever (which owns a 38.9% stake), the group wrung a £448,000 profit before tax and listing costs from turnover up 57% at £4.6m. Expanding internationally, the UK base grew 20%, the Dutch arm grew 172% in its second year of operation and the US broke even in its first.

The market research industry was extremely entrenched until the internet forged a channel for new entrants to compete. But as this avenue is already congested, BrainJuicer has chosen to gain market share by further innovation. Says Kearon: ‘Clients want to know if a product will perform – “ which they can get from traditional quantitative market research – “ but also qualitative questions like “how?” and “why?” We offer the basics and something much richer.’

The company’s approach has won plaudits and clients such as Unilever, Proctor & Gamble, Nestlé and Nike. Last year, 85% of revenues were from repeat business and average spend per project improved 16% to £13,317. A big win during the period was a ‘global mandate’ worth ‘at least £1m a year’ from ‘one of the top 50 companies in the world’.

‘We’ve got just a fraction of the business of our big clients,’ reasons Kearon. ‘If we can convince them we’re a credible partner, we could grow our business considerably just with existing clients.’

House broker Teather & Greenwood is maintaining conservative forecasts of £6.4 million revenue, £800,000 adjusted pre-tax profits and 4.5p earnings per share. Up 39% from its 108p issue price, debt-free BrainJuicer is capitalised seven times smaller than YouGov, up around 600% over two years, and has the potential to deliver. Buy.