Bloomberg eyes 15-20% rise in Middle East revenues

Bloomberg, the New York-based financial data giant, saw Middle East revenues rise by 15.6 percent in 2010 its chairman said Thursday.

The firm, which provides financial news to some 300,000 subscribers worldwide, expects sales in emerging markets to grow at 15 to 20 percent annually, Peter Grauer said.

“Last year we were up 15.6 percent in terms of units [in the Middle East],” said Grauer, adding that the majority was in the UAE.

“Emerging markets for us represent almost 25 percent of our installed base. The relative number is not as important as the growth rate [which is increasing at] 15-20 percent a year,” he said.

The firm, founded by New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg, has doubled the number of staff in its Dubai-based office and on Wednesday opened a new office in Mumbai, tripling its staff.

About 85 percent of Bloomberg revenue comes from two-year leases of its terminals, for which renters pay upwards of $1,500 a month.

Bloomberg is on target to achieve revenues of $10bn by 2014, Grauer said, six months behind its self-imposed target as a result of the economic downturn.

In 2010, the firm said revenues were $6.88bn compared to $6,2bn the previous year.

“Our expectation that we’ll get to $10bn [is] now probably somewhere in 2014 largely as a result of the 2009 contraction, although we had record revenue performance in that year,” said Grauer.

“We were up 2.5 percent in revenues terms on record performance in 2008 but because of what happened in 2007-2009 amongst our customers, we are probably off track by about six months.”