Future Looks Bright A Year On From Float

Future Network today announced strong growth in its net-based activities and unveiled a series of launches for the coming year. At its inaugural Annual General Meeting, chief executive Greg Ingham said the group, which floated on the London Stock Exchange a year ago today (see Price Set For Stake In Future), was on track to meet trading plans laid out for 2000.

During the year so far the group has added a further 16 titles to its portfolio, bringing the total number of magazines to 127. The UK launch of Business 2.0 (see Future Network Strengthens Its Board Ahead Of Launch), in particular, has exceeded expectations and plans are already in place to launch the title in Germany and France later this year.

Further expansion throughout the year will include the launch of Playstation 2, expected in autumn, and the first consumer title dedicated to WAP technology, WAP-Mobiles, the Internet and Beyond, which is due to hit the newsstands next month.

Ingham said that future growth within the group would be largely driven by the internet, through consumer magazines dealing with the new medium but mostly through the development of online businesses. “It is our online activities themselves, and our ability to generate advertising and e-commerce revenues from them, that present the most exciting opportunities in this area,” he said.

Five new web networks have been added this year, including games-dedicated site dailyradar.com, and film sites reelscreen.co.uk and reelfinder.co.uk and to the end of May, total net revenues were up by over 300% in a year on year analysis. Combined online assets within the group produce 4.9 million unique visitors each month and 83m page impressions.

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