A slowdown in the car insurance switching market has moderated the performance of Go.Compare, the comparison website owned by Bath-based global specialist media group, after a ‘standout’ year in 2024.
The group, which bought Go.Compare in 2021 for £594m, described the weaker market as expected and said it was diversifying into other categories, such as home insurance, which were delivering good growth.
In a trading update for the four months to 31 January, Future, which owns more than 200 brands including magazines such as Guitar World and Cyclingnews, added that the UK advertising market continued to be challenging.
Magazines had remained more resilient, led by premium titles, it said.
The B2B (business-to-business) market was mixed, with enterprise technology remaining soft, although there had been “good progress” in other verticals, it said.
In B2C (business-to-consumer), the improvement in US digital advertising and eCommerce in the second half of last year had continued, with both areas recording year-on-year growth, with broadly stable audience sessions performance.
Future launched its Growth Acceleration Strategy – described the strategy as “a continuous process to ensure the group is best positioned to deliver sustainable organic growth” – just over a year ago in the face of the changing global media landscape and a tougher advertising climate.
It said it continued to make good progress executing the strategy while also maintaining its “strong financial characteristics with an attractive margin and strong cash generation”.
Last week Future announced its next CEO as Kevin Li Ying, currently executive vice-president (EYP) of its B2C arm take over from current chief executive officer Jon Steinberg at the end of March.
Mr Steinberg told shareholders in the trading update: "After our return to growth in the second half of last year, our focus for this year is on the continued execution of our Growth Acceleration Strategy.
“We are pleased with the start to the new financial year and, whilst we remain mindful of the macro backdrop and the ongoing evolution of the media landscape, we are confident about making further progress and delivering a performance in line with market expectations."
Future will announce its half-year results on 16 May.
