Shares in Bath-based international media group Future shot up by nearly 10% on Friday after it said it was reaping the benefits of its major restructuring of recent years.
In a pre-close trading update released to the London Stock Exchange, the group said overall trading for the year to September 30 had been positive and was expected to be in line with the board’s expectations.
Cash conversion had improved with year-end cash ahead of expectations, it said. The group ended the year with a small net cash position.
Future, whose brands include T3, Total Film, Edge, MacFormat and Xbox: The Official Magazine, said: “The group’s strategy to diversify its revenue streams and further build its global brands, a process that started in the previous financial year, along with the introduction of the new divisional structure during the current year, has increased efficiency and delivery.”
The group has slashed hundreds of jobs and sold off dozens of titles over the past year as it restructured its business, moved more titles online and invested heavily in its digital platforms.
Its media division had seen strong growth year on year, it said today, driven by e-commerce revenues, while its magazine division had “delivered on key profit operational efficiency initiatives”.
Future also said today that its acquisition of rival Imagine Publishing in a £14.2m deal in June had been approved by the Competition and Markets Authority with the exception of one of the 19 titles involved.
The CMA said it had found competition issues with the acquisition of Sci-Fi Now. Future will now continue its discussions with the CMA to agree a basis on which it can close the transaction as soon as practicable.
The Imagine deal added GamesTM, Nowgamer.com, X-ONE, Play, For Beginners, Retro Gamer and World of Animals titles and digital platforms to Future’s portfolio.
Future chief executive Zillah Byng-Thorne said: “We have made significant progress on the execution of our strategy, in line with expectations. We have seen strong growth in operating profitability and importantly, achieved strong cash conversion.
“A key part of our strategy for the media division is to diversify revenues. We have successfully grown e-commerce and have launched new events, including the international Generate events.
“The magazine division has delivered on several key optimisation programmes. It has been strengthened by a number of small complementary acquisitions which have bolstered its portfolio and will provide synergistic benefits."
Future expects to publish its full-year results for the year ended September 30 during the week commencing November 21.
Future’s shares closed at 8.92p on Friday, up 0.72p or 8.84% on the day.
