Looking to the Future: Publisher bets it will beat full-year guidance as digital audience grows revenue
Future already predicts it will beat expectations for its new financial year after experiencing strong momentum over the first quarter, it said today.
The publisher of Tech Radar, Total Film and What Hi-Fi also believes results will be “significantly ahead of its expectations” for the first half of the year, it said in a trading update that comes hot on the heels on its purchase of two cycling magazines from rival Immediate Media.
Read more: Future goes up a gear with cycling brand purchases
The board credited strong revenue growth in e-commerce and digital advertising to a jump in online readers.
“The board now expects the outcome for H1 to be significantly ahead of its expectations,” the publisher said.
Despite warning on the potential impact of wider political uncertainty like Brexit, the publisher believes it will beat expectations for the full year by a wide margin.
“Whilst a great deal of uncertainty remains from the macro-economic environment in terms of H2 outcome, the strong trading in the first four months of the financial year means that the board now expects the outcome for the full year to be significantly ahead of market expectations,” Future said.
Read more: New magazines fuel Future's profit jump after spending spree
Unlike other media houses, Future has made a successful transition to digital – fuelled largely by new acquisitions like its Procycling Magazine and Cyclingnews.com purchases earlier this month.
Profit and revenue surged in the 12 months to the end of September as its digital audience grew to 142m, up from 49m the year before chiefly thanks to a raft of new titles.