Activist investor Gatemore calls on UK pollster YouGov to explore sale

(Reuters) -Activist investor Gatemore Capital on Wednesday urged British polling and research company YouGov to conduct a review of its business and initiate a sale process.

Gatemore attributed the company’s share price performance to operational missteps. YouGov’s shares have fallen 63.7% so far this year.

Some concerns outlined by Gatemore, which has a stake of around 1% in YouGov, include the pollster’s failure to provide timely financial forecast and a lack of clarity on achieving mid-term targets.

YouGov did not immediately respond to a request for a comment.

We are deeply confident in YouGov’s fundamental strengths and long-term potential,” said Liad Meidar, managing partner at Gatemore. However, urgent actions are needed now to help the company chart a path towards realizing its intrinsic value.

In April, Gatemore had called for British specialty chemicals firm Elementis’ board to review its operations and replace the CEO amid a fall in the share price.

(Reporting by DhanushVignesh Babu in Bengaluru; Editing by Shreya Biswas and Shounak Dasgupta)