Half Year Trading Update

RNS Number : 1164C

Future PLC

11 April 2017

 

11 April 2017

Future plc

Half year trading update

Future plc (LSE: FUTR, "the Group"), the international media group and leading digital business, provides a trading update for the six months to 31 March 2017. 

Overall trading for the year to date has been positive. The Group's Media division is performing strongly with the fast growing revenue streams of e-commerce and events up around 70% and 15% year on year respectively. As a result the Board's expectation for the Group's results for both the first six months and the financial year as a whole remain unchanged.

The Group's net debt position is lower than expected at the half year and strong cash flow from operations is expected in the second half of the year. 

The integration of Imagine Publishing into the Group is now complete with full synergy savings expected to flow through in FY18 as planned.

The magazines acquired from Team Rock in January are trading in line with expectations. Profits from this acquisition are being reinvested in the Team Rock online site, which currently has 2m users and in developing new digital assets linked to other key Future brands. These new digital assets include the recent launch of new site T3 Baby and a new content channel T3 Home.

The investment in these digital assets further reinforces the Group's strategy of creating a global specialist media platform with data at its heart, monetised through diversified revenue streams.

The Group expects to publish its results for the six months ended 31 March 2017 on 19 May 2017.

Zillah Byng-Thorne, Future plc's Chief Executive said:

"We have made a strong start to this financial year. Investment in our Media division is paying off with strong growth in diversified revenue streams, in particular in e-commerce.

"The integration of Imagine into the Magazine division and broader business is complete with full synergy savings to flow through in FY18 as anticipated. 

"Team Rock has been a fantastic addition to our business and we have re-invested profits from this acquisition into developing exciting new digital assets, such as launching our recent T3 Home and T3 Baby content channels.''

Enquiries:

Future plc
Zillah Byng-Thorne, Chief Executive Officer	01225 442244
Penny Ladkin-Brand, Chief Financial Officer
Instinctif Partners
Adrian Duffield/Kay Larsen	020 7457 2020

Notes to editors

Future plc is an international media group and leading digital publisher, listed on the London Stock Exchange (symbol: FUTR). The Group operates two separately managed brand-led divisions: Media and Magazine. The Group has a reach of 117m globally, including 47m online users and 65m social media followers.

The Media division focuses on being at the forefront of digital innovation, in particular the high growth technology and games markets, with three complementary revenue streams: e-commerce, events and digital advertising. It has a number of leading brands including Techradar, PC Gamer, GamesRadar+, The Photography Show, Generate and Golden Joysticks.

The Magazine division is brand-led. It has over 100 publications, with 14 key titles, the majority of which are market leading, and is seen as the number one digital consumer magazine publisher in the UK.

 

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