Robert F. Spoerry - Executive Chairman of the Board
Analyst · Merrill Lynch
Yes, maybe let's go back to last 10 years and let's look at the growth rate we had over those 10 years. The local currency adjusted over the last 10 years, we grew 7%, 2% acquisition, 5% organic. The worst period we had was modest single-digit growth, I guess, around 1% or so maybe. And that was, of course, during the tough time of recession. And as I am saying that number, I am putting out the one-time effect we had from retail, which was a very particular circumstances with the euro changeover. And frankly it has a little to do with the economy as such. At that time, our situation was much different in many ways. First of all, the amount of business we had in the emerging markets was much smaller. Today, as I said before, in the emerging markets, we have 25% of our revenue and, say, even if it gets tough from the economic weakness of the U.S. builds over into other parts of the world, I am optimistic we can grow more than 10% in that part of the world. And as I said before, we have done so many things over the last years to really accelerate growth in these markets. And the limitation is more, there're many things, the many opportunities, the resources towards that done, anything else. That's one big change. Then the second big change is I think the programs which Olivier has been driving so hard under the umbrella of Spinnaker is sales and marketing programs. We frankly hadn't had anything exactly in [ph] place at that time. Today this is much different, this engine is rolling. Olivier gave you some very impressive numbers on this, and I can tell you the lead generation, which was very strong in the last three years, continues to be strong. And for me that's actually one of the leading indicators we have. Lead regeneration tells us a little bit about the business, not just in the next couple of weeks and months, but a little later in the year. And so far so good. And that made us also give you that guidance for the start into this year.