New magazines fuel Future’s profit jump after spending spree
Future reported huge jumps in both profit and revenue in its full-year results today after a string of acquisitions breathed new life into the magazine publisher, sending shares up almost five per cent in early trading.
The figures
Group revenue grew by 48 per cent year on year to £124.6m for the 12 months to the end of September, driven largely by acquisitions, while organic revenue grew 11 per cent.
Profit before tax came in at £4.4m, hugely up from just £200,000 in 2017, after Future bought NewBay, Haymarket and Purch titles over the course of the year.
However, Future’s spending spree saddled the publisher with £7m more in debt, bringing net debt up to £17m, though it still grew cash flow by almost £3m to £14.7m.
Basic earnings per share also grew to 5.1p, up from 3.7p a year ago, with Future recommending a dividend of 0.5p per share.
Why it's interesting
What Hi-Fi?, FourFourTwo, Practical Caravan and Practical Motorhome, from Future’s recent acquisition of Haymarket, have already helped boost the publisher’s reach, while its £101m acquisition of Purch’s business-to-consumer titles have bolstered its US presence.
Meanwhile it has made a strategic move into B2B by buying Newbay, and is focusing on monetising Techradar Pro, targeting business decision makers.
The new titles have hugely driven up Future’s online audience too, from 49m monthly readers in 2017 to 142m this year.
Now, its digital media division is delivering more than half of group revenues, beating magazine revenue for the first time.
What Future said
Zillah Byng-Thorne, Future's chief executive, said:
“Future has had an outstanding year. The financial results speak volumes for the successful execution of the Group's focused strategy in leveraging its specialist media platform and diversifying its revenue streams, both geographically and across its product offering.
“Our four acquisitions this year have broadened and strengthened our B2C and B2B portfolios and materially increased our global reach. The expansion of our US business also presents material opportunities to monetise our significant US online audience.
“The year has started well with trading ahead of the Board's expectations for this quarter, and while we recognise there is still much uncertainty for the remainder of the year, the Board is confident that trading will continue the trends of the last year with strong growth.”