How does FUTR make money?
It makes money through Media and Magazine segments: - The Media segment provides e-commerce, digital advertising, events, lead generation, newsletters and CRM, and digital licensing services.
- The Magazine segment creates specialist magazines in print and digital formats. It also offers print licensing services, endorsement licensing, comparison shopping, and video content production services, as well as various sales and distribution services to third party publishers.
- The Media segment provides e-commerce, digital advertising, events, lead generation, newsletters and CRM, and digital licensing services.
- The Magazine segment creates specialist magazines in print and digital formats. It also offers print licensing services, endorsement licensing, comparison shopping, and video content production services, as well as various sales and distribution services to third party publishers.
Is the company well-managed?
The CEO is
Zillah Byng-Thorne, who joined in 2014 from Auto Trader and has ruthlessly set about whipping the company into shape. She was
brutal
in the early stages of her reign and put Future’s entire British staff on redundancy notice. She
axed
failing magazines and focused on titles that wrote about people’s hobbies and which could generate
revenues.
Under her the company has also pursued a stream of
acquisitions
which have boosted Future’s share price and seen revenues, profit and audience
skyrocket. Acquisitions in the last 3 years alone include: - US digital women's lifestyle publisher
Who What Wear
- GoCo Group - owner of price comparison website
Go Compare
(£594 million in 2020)
- Dennis Publishing - owner of
The Week
and
MoneyWeek
(£300 million in 2021)
- Mozo - Australian price comparison website (£17 million in 2021)
- TI Media - publishes 40 titles including
Horse & Hound,
Woman & Home
and
Wallpaper
(£140million in 2020)
- US digital women's lifestyle publisher Who What Wear
- GoCo Group - owner of price comparison website Go Compare (£594 million in 2020)
- Dennis Publishing - owner of The Week and MoneyWeek (£300 million in 2021)
- Mozo - Australian price comparison website (£17 million in 2021)
- TI Media - publishes 40 titles including Horse & Hound, Woman & Home and Wallpaper (£140million in 2020)
What about the financials?
Future PLC on 30th November reported substantially increased annual profit, as the company's Magazine division drove an increase in revenue.
- The publisher reported a
58%
rise in pretax profit to
£170.8 million
for the 12 months ended September 30, from
£107.8 million
the year before.
- Revenue increased 36% to
£825.4 million
from
£606.8 million, and the US delivered "strong" revenue growth of
55%
to
£325.9 million
from
£210.2 million.
- Revenue in the Magazine division increased by
58%
to
£290.2 million
from
£184.0
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
£15 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 one-off performance in the prior year due to COVID-19.
Byng-Thorne
had this to say about the company's performance, "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."
Although the dividend is meagre at only
0.23%, it is has increased to
3.4p per share up from
1.6p
last year.
So what happened to the share price on the back of this
stellar
set of results on 30th November?
What about the financials?
Future PLC on 30th November reported substantially increased annual profit, as the company's Magazine division drove an increase in revenue.
- The publisher reported a 58% rise in pretax profit to £170.8 million for the 12 months ended September 30, from £107.8 million the year before.
- Revenue increased 36% to £825.4 million from £606.8 million, and the US delivered "strong" revenue growth of 55% to £325.9 million from £210.2 million.
- Revenue in the Magazine division increased by 58% to £290.2 million from £184.0 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 £15 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 one-off performance in the prior year due to COVID-19.
Byng-Thorne
had this to say about the company's performance, "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."
Although the dividend is meagre at only
0.23%, it is has increased to
3.4p per share up from
1.6p
last year.
So what happened to the share price on the back of this
stellar
set of results on 30th November?
Well... not a lot - it went down around 9%.
Conclusion
We think the market is sleeping on this
rejuvenated and
highly profitable
business. Under the leadership of a new CEO since 2014, the company has been making
shrewd, cash generating
acquisitions that are showing their worth in FUTR's
financials this year. The outlook looks positive for
further growth
and we want in
now.
We will be adding it to our portfolio tomorrow morning.
Well... not a lot - it went down around 9%.
