26th Mar 2008 07:01
Future PLC26 March 2008 26 March 2008 Future plc Pre-close trading update Future plc, the international special-interest media group, is today issuing atrading update in respect of the half-year ending 31 March 2008. As previouslyannounced the Group will announce its interim results on 23 May 2008. Overall revenue for the first five months (October to February) was broadly inline with the Board's expectation. As previously explained in our InterimManagement Statement on 29 January 2008, the phasing of customer publishingrevenue will favour the second half-year. Operating costs, overheads, interest costs, depreciation and capital expenditure are all running within their budgeted level. As stated on 28 November 2007 and 29 January 2008, the phasing of our EBITA in 2008 is expected to reflect both the intensity of investment in the first half and anticipated business activity levels in the second half. More generally, while there is uncertainty about levels of consumer confidence in both the UK and US, our advertising performance is pacing ahead of last year. As a special-interest media company, with an engaged demographic, Future is arguably less exposed to cyclical weakness in general consumer expenditure than many other consumer-facing companies. The Board is encouraged by the progress of our organic business initiatives across all platforms - print, online and events. In print, we now publish the Official magazines for all three major games console manufacturers on both sides of the Atlantic. In online, during the last three months we have launched techradar.com and musicradar.com, which build on our successful Gamesradar and Bikeradar online networks. In events, we now run, or have planned, consumer or industry-facing events in each of our core sectors. Overall, while we sensibly continue to take a cautious view of our markets, our strategy remains firmly on track. Enquiries: Future:Stevie Spring, Chief Executive Tel: 020 7042 4007John Bowman, Group Finance Director Tel: 020 7042 4031Vicky Bacon, Head of Group Communications Tel: 020 7042 4033 Hogarth Partnership:James Longfield / Ian Payne Tel: 020 7357 9477 About Future Future plc is an international special-interest media group that is listed onthe London Stock Exchange (symbol FUTR). Founded in 1985 with one magazine,today we have operations in the UK and US creating over 180 special-interestpublications, websites and events for people who are passionate about theirinterests. We hold strong market positions in games, film, music, technology,cycling, automotive and crafts. Our biggest-selling magazines include T3, TotalFilm, Digital Camera, Fast Car, Classic Rock, Guitar World, Official XboxMagazine, Official Playstation Magazine, Nintendo Power and MacLife. Online, ourwebsites include gamesradar.com, bikeradar.com, techradar.com, andmusicradar.com. Future produces over 4 million magazines each month; we attractmore than 11 million unique visitors to our websites; and we host 16 annual liveevents that attract hundreds of thousands of enthusiasts. In addition, Futureexports, syndicates or licenses its publications to 90 countriesinternationally, making us the UK's biggest exporter of monthly magazines. Key performance indicators for the year ended 30 September 2007: The table below sets out the key performance indicators published in the Annual Report 2007 (at page 15) for ease of reference. Key performance indicators FY07 Per Annual Report 2007 Annual growth in revenue (normalised at constant currency) FlatEBITAE operating margin (as a %) 8.4%Absolute EBITAE (in Sterling) £14.0mChange in adjusted earnings per share (as a %) + 14% Number of magazines sold per month 4.0mProportion of magazines sold from total number printed See notes 1-3Proportion of Group's business derived from our brandscompared with partnership publishing 79:21 (note 4) Number of unique users logging on to our websites per month 10m (note 5)Growth in total advertising revenue (as a % at constant currency) + 3%Proportion of advertising revenue that is online (as a %) 14% Human Capital See note 6Net bank debt £24.3m Notes 1. The majority of magazines printed by the Group are sold, and thoseunsold are mainly recycled and used for newspaper production. The preciseproportion sold at newsstand is a detailed KPI each month for every title.However, the Group believes that it is commercially sensitive to disclose thesepercentages, since competitors typically do not release this information.Magazines printed for subscription have no wastage. 2. In the UK 82% of magazines (by volume) are sold at newsstand. Ouroverall UK average newsstand efficiency improved in 2007 by 6% compared with2006. Future has increased the proportion of magazine volume sales derived fromsubscription rather than newsstand, from 16% to 18%. The majority of UK revenuesare derived from cover price. 3. In the US 35% of magazines (by volume) are sold at newsstand. Themajority are sold by subscription at heavily discounted prices, and the majorityof magazine revenues are gained from advertising. 4. Partnership publishing represented 21% of normalised 2007 Grouprevenue. This category includes business from our Official magazines publishedfor Microsoft (Xbox 360 and Vista), Sony (PlayStation) and Nintendo, pluscustomer publishing activities. The majority of the Group's revenue is generatedfrom our own brands. 5. For each of our websites we know the number of page impressions and weknow the number of unique visitors to that website. We do not know how manyunique visitors visit more than one of our websites. The number presented hereis the simple total of each website's average monthly number of unique visitors. 6. Human Capital is the Group's most important resource, with 1,200employees. In the running of our business, the most important focal point is thepublisher responsible for each magazine and website. We focus on retention ofkey employees to drive our business. Equally, we believe in refreshment of theteam with new people and new ideas. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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