Hectic acquisition activity at Future, the Bath-based international media group, has paid off, its chief executive has said as she unveiled a big leap in annual operating profits.
Zillah Byng-Thorne, pictured, hailed the group’s success in creating a leading global specialist media platform after a major restructuring over recent years during which it also shed jobs and sold titles. 
Operating profits for the year to September 30 soared by 187% to £2.3m on revenues flat at £59m. However, pre-tax losses widened from £2.3m to £14.9m.
Future, whose brands include T3, Total Film, Edge, MacFormat and Xbox: The Official Magazine, said its four acquisitions during the year added portfolio-enhancing brands which allowed it to achieve economies of scale through its core UK publishing operations as well as enhancing operational profitability.
It said: “These acquisitions have allowed us to take advantage of a fragmented market. They have provided the group with a number of complementary titles to our existing portfolio and added the new portfolio of field sports and also a step toward the high value B2B market with the mobile category.”
The acquisitions included:
- Noble House Media, a multi-platform publisher specialising in technology and the mobile industry, in April, which further strengthened Future’s technology portfolio, including adding leading magazine brands Mobile Choice, Wireless and Mobile and the prestigious Mobile Choice Awards and Mobile Industry Awards.
- Blaze Publishing, a magazine publisher and event organiser in the music and field sports sectors, in May, strengthening Future’s position as the market leader in music publishing in the UK.
- Next Commerce, a digital shopping comparison business with operations in Australia and across South East Asia which operates Getprice.com.au and Pricepanda.com, in August
- Imagine Publishing, which completed in October and added a portfolio of 18 periodical magazines and 300 bookazines across the knowledge, history, science, games, tech and creative verticals, including GamesTM, Nowgamer.com, X-ONE, Play, For Beginners, Retro Gamer and World of Animals. Imagine also has a strong licensing, web and digital edition business.
Future said the integration of Imagine was proceeding to plan and, while only one month in, it is confident of delivering the estimated annualised cost synergies of £3m.
Ms Byng-Thorne said: “Our strategy to create a leading global specialist media platform with data at its heart, monetised through diversified revenue streams, has delivered extremely positive results.
“We focus on content that connects with our substantial and growing audience base and monetise their needs through increasingly diversified revenue streams, which include e-commerce, event sponsorship, digital advertising, licensing, content publishing, subscriptions, newstrade sales and event ticketing.
“We are also taking advantage of the fragmented print market and have substantially increased our scale and sector coverage with a number of acquisitions – most notably Imagine Publishing in October 2016. Imagine transforms the scale of the business and brings significant operational synergies and cash generation opportunities.”
During the year Future’s media division – which focuses on being at the forefront of digital innovation, in particular the high-growth tech and games markets – achieved 14% revenue growth – with techradar.com up 49% and PC Gamer up 43% – and with e-commerce revenues increasing 187% year-on-year
It said recurring revenue streams now represented 25% of total revenue, compared to 22% in the last financial year.
