Future signals further acquisitions to come amid e-commerce surge

Future chief executive Zillah Byng-Thorne has signalled further acquisitions are in the pipeline as the company reported a doubling of pre-tax profits over the last six months.

The magazine publisher, which has expanded into price comparison services with the acquisition of GoCompare and last week announced the purchase of Marie Claire US, said its e-commerce strategy helped it avoid making losses during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The owner of Country Life and the TechRadar site announced pre-tax profits rose by 27% to £56.9 million in the six months to the end of March, while organic revenue grew by 21%.

When adding its newly acquired businesses, revenue jumped by 89% year-on-year to £272.6 million.

GoCompare, which Future acquired for £594 million in February, enabled the publisher to build new e-commerce relationships and launch digital magazines about personal finance.

Future’s revenue from e-commerce – which is now roughly equally shared between the UK and US – more than doubled (up 116%) to £85.2 million.

Byng-Thorne said: “We are well positioned to sustain the growth momentum we have built over recent years. Whilst we remain cautious about the wider macroeconomic uncertainties associated with Covid-19, we are confident in the outlook for the group and expect the full year to be materially ahead of market expectations, underpinned by an exceptional H1 performance.”

Future’s share price was up by more than 10% when its financials were released this morning and stabilised to around 12% in the afternoon.