15th Nov 2019 08:14
(Alliance News) - Magazine publisher Future PLC on Friday reported a sharp full-year revenue rise following a string of acquisitions in the US.
The FTSE 250 firm, which owns football title FourFourTwo and music magazine What Hi-Fi?, posted a 70% year-on-year revenue climb to GBP221.5 million from GBP130.1 million.
Pretax profit in the year to September 30 more than doubled to GBP12.7 million from GBP4.4 million last year.
US revenue surged to GBP104.5 million from GBP40.1 million last year. Revenue from Future's UK operations were 14% higher year-on-year at GBP102.7 million from GBP90.0 million.
Future proposed a full-year dividend of 1.00 pence per share, twice last year's 0.5p a share payout.
Future said 70% of its revenue for the year came from its "higher margin" Media segment, which generates income from digital advertising, e-commerce and events.
The company's magazine division includes titles such as DIY title Homebuilding & Renovating and movie review and features magazine Total Film.
Chief Executive Zillah Byng-Thorne said: "Future has had an outstanding year. Our strong financial results provide clear evidence of the continued and effective execution of our strategy, leveraging our technology platform across all our brands to diversify our revenue streams.
"Our acquisitions during the financial year - two specialist cycling brands, Mobile Nations and SmartBrief - have significantly broadened and strengthened our B2C and B2B portfolios and materially increased our US presence."
In October, Future said it would acquire magazine printer TI Media for GBP140 million in cash, adding brands such as wine reviewer Decanter, property title Country Life and weekly equestrian magazine Horse & Hound to its portfolio.
Byng-Thorne added: "The proposed acquisition of TI Media announced post year-end will bring complementary new verticals along with an array of opportunities to further leverage our proprietary technology platform and develop new digital monetisation models and geographic expansion across the TI Media portfolio."
Future shares were 1.2% higher at 1,472.00 each in London on Friday morning.
By Eric Cunha; [email protected]
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