Notes 14-19

The carrying amount of other intangible assets includes market research panel costs of £0.9 million (2006: £0.7 million), patents and trademarks of £4.1 million (2006: £4.0 million), customer relationships £3.3 million (2006: £nil), and other intangibles of £1.3 million (2006: £0.2 million).

The carrying amount of intangible assets with indefinite useful economic lives is £3.5 million (2006: £3.2 million), principally relating to trade names. These are considered to have indefinite lives because it is the Group's intention to continue to invest in these assets and by doing so, their value will be protected and indeed enhanced. This continued investment will involve significant expenditure on training, recruitment, technological development and legal protection. £3.4 million (2006: £3.2 million) of these assets are included within the Aegis Media business segment, principally in the Americas geographical segment. Internally-generated intangible assets of £1.1 million (2006: £nil) have not yet been subject to amortisation as development of these assets is not yet complete.

At 31 December 2007, the Group had £0.7 million capital commitments contracted, but not provided, for the acquisition of property, plant and equipment (2006: £0.7 million).

a) Carrying amount

Investments in associates and the eVerger joint venture at 31 December 2007 include goodwill of £5.4 million and £nil respectively (2006: £5.4 million and £nil respectively). The share of results of associates in the consolidated profit and loss includes a £0.4 million loss on disposal of an associate in India.

b) Investments in associates

The following represents the aggregate amount of the Group's interests in associated companies' assets, liabilities, revenues and profit:

The following represents the summarised gross financial information of the Group's associated companies’ assets, liabilities, revenues and profit:

A list of the significant investments in associates, including the name, country of incorporation and proportion of ownership interest is given in the notes to the Company's separate financial statements. All associates have year-end reporting dates of 31 December, with the exception of QJY which has a 30 September year-end. The Group has a 15.91% interest in Qin Jia Yuan Advertising for which the fair value, based on a published price quotation, is £29.4 million, compared to the book value of £13.2 million.

c) Interest in joint venture

The Group has a 44.65% shareholding in eVerger Limited, an investment company incorporated in Guernsey. The period-end reporting date for eVerger is 30 September. The Group's share of assets at 31 December 2007 is £0.5 million (2006: £2.8 million). The Group's share of liabilities at 31 December 2007 is £nil (2006: £nil). During the year £2.3 million of capital was returned to the Group by eVerger.

The investment above represents a stake of approximately 2.1% in Harris Interactive, Inc.

The average credit period taken for trade receivables is 72 days (2006: 63 days (restated)). The directors consider that the carrying amount of trade and other receivables approximates to their fair value. Trade receivables for the Group are stated net of a bad debt allowance of £24.8 million (2006: £19.7 million).

As of 31 December 2007, trade receivables of £540.8 million (2006: £523.7 million) were past due but not impaired. The ageing analysis of these receivables is as follows:

The average credit period taken for trade payables is 74 days (2006: 67 days). The directors consider that the carrying amount of trade payables approximates to their fair value.