30th Nov 2022 16:32
(Alliance News) - Future PLC on Wednesday reported a strong set of annual results on Wednesday, but shares fell as the media company predicted only "modest" profit growth in the year ahead and provided an update on the replacement of its highly regarded chief executive.
Future shares were down 5.7% to 1,398.66p near the close in London on Wednesday. The stock is down 61% over the past 12 months.
The Bath, England-based magazine publisher reported a 58% rise in pretax profit to GBP170.8 million for the financial year that ended September 30 from GBP107.8 million the year before, partly driven by recent acquisitions.
Revenue increased 36% to GBP825.4 million from GBP606.8 million, and the US delivered "strong" revenue growth of 55% to GB325.9 million from GBP210.2 million.
Revenue in the Magazine division increased by 58% to GBP290.2 million from GBP184.0 million, following the acquisition of Dennis Publishing Ltd, a consumer media subscriptions business, which "continued to perform well".
Events revenue grew by 62% to over GBP15 million, Media revenue increased by 27%, and organic digital advertising revenue grew 7% despite lower online audiences. Organic affiliate revenue was down 6%, and Future said the decline is broadly equal to the one-off performance in the prior year due to Covid-19.
"Looking ahead, whilst we are monitoring the macroeconomic climate, we remain confident in our strategy and the growth opportunities that we are uniquely placed to capitalise on, which we expect to deliver modest profit growth and market share gains," Chief Executive Zillah Byng-Thorne said.
Byng-Thorne will leave Future by the end of 2023, the company announced back in September. On Wednesday, it said "good progress is being made" on finding a successor. In the meantime, the role of Chief Financial Officer Penny Ladkin-Brand is being extended to include strategy officer.
Shore Capital has a 'buy' rating and 1,483p price target on Future shares.
"We regard Future as a well-managed business whose strategic focus on [and] technological investment in leveraging content to drive e-commerce and digital advertising across an extensive portfolio of [business-to-consumer] brands should prove a potent medium-term growth driver," commented analyst Roddy Davidson.
Future declared a final dividend of 3.4 pence per share for financial 2022, up from 1.6p the prior year.
By Jaskeet Briah; [email protected]; and Tom Waite; [email protected]
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