Shares in Bath-based media group Future rose by more than 5% earlier this week as it said its financial performance will be better than expected thanks to successful campaigns linked to this summer’s World Cup and a string of new products.
In a trading update to the London Stock Exchange, the highly acquisitive group, which owns the world’s biggest football magazine FourFourTwo, said it was also benefiting from a spate of takeovers earlier this year.
As a result, its earnings for the 12 months to September 30 are likely to be stronger than the board’s previous expectations, it said.
Over that period, Future snapped up four specialist titles from Haymarket, including FourFourTwo, for £13m and US-based information and events business Newbay Media, the publisher behind Music Week magazine, for £9.7m.
And in July it announced its largest acquisition to date – the £100m move into the US consumer market with the proposed takeover of the B2C (business-to-consumer) arm of Purch, adding popular US tech and science platforms such as Tom’s Guide, Tom’s Hardware, Space.com and Live Science to its burgeoning portfolio. The deal was completed on Wednesday.
In Monday’s statement Future said: “We have seen a positive performance from World Cup-related campaigns and we have also benefited from some larger-than-expected product launches.”
It added that strong contributions continued to be made in all areas of its media division. “We are very excited about adding the network and titles that are part of the recent Purch acquisition to our existing franchises,” it said.
Adding the four Haymarket titles – What Hi-Fi?, FourFourTwo, Practical Caravan and Practical Motorhome - to its magazine division had continued to add scale and operational efficiencies, as well as broadening its audiences and range.
The integration of Newbay, which expanded its reach in the US market, and the Haymarket titles had progressed as planned, it said, and both were trading in line with expectations. The Purch transaction is expected to complete within the next couple of weeks.
Chief executive Zillah Byng-Thorne said: “We continue to grow our audiences and diversify our revenue streams both vertically and geographically. As a result, the group has again enjoyed an active and successful year, driven by our strategy of focussing on our vibrant, passionate communities, whilst harnessing technology to deliver growth in the business both organically and through acquisition.
“The year was characterised by several acquisitions. At the same, the underlying core strength of the business has continued and has led to the stronger than expected outcome to the year.”
Future expects to publish its full-year results for the year to September 30 on November 23.
