Magazine brand publisher and GoCompare owner Future grew by 23% organically over the year leading up to the end of September, the company reported in its latest full-year financials.
Future said the revenue growth was driven by a combination of organic growth and acquisitions, alongside a 16% rise in online users.
The business reported a pre-tax profit of £107m, more than doubled from last year’s £52m, with further growth from digital advertising and ecommerce. On an adjusted basis, pre-tax profit still more than doubled to £188.3m from £90.9m.
Its total revenue, which is impacted by mergers and acquisitions, surged 79% year-on-year to £606.8m.
Media revenue rose 78% to £422.8m, thanks to growth in digital advertising through an increase in yield, and 36% growth in ecommerce revenue thanks to an improved commission rate and conversion rate in the second half of the year, the company said. Media now represents 70% of the group’s revenue, with organic media growth of 27%.
Magazine revenue, meanwhile, increased 80% to £184m and was boosted by the full-year contribution of TI Media, which was acquired in April 2020 for £140m.
The latest results also revealed the success of Future’s acquisition of TI Media, completed in April 2020. The acquisition of Dennis titles, including TheWeek and MoneyWeek, was completed in October and have given Future an entry into “Wealth” content.
Future said its global online audience increased by 8% year on year and now reaches just under half of all online adults in the UK (47%), an audience four times larger than it was in 2018, and nearly one in three in the US (31%).
The company’s growth strategy is underpinned by three pillars, which include driving organic growth, creating value through acquisitions, and using investment in technology to deliver ‘the platform effect’.
The company also revealed that its first-party data platform, Aperture, has increased its addressable audience by 354% since launching in September. The platform allows advertisers to reach high-intent audiences through access to rich first-party audience data captured across different publisher brands. By owning a full proprietary technology stack that is scalable across its entire portfolio, Future said it is able to serve its high-intent audiences through their entire purchase journey, in a premium, trusted editorial environment.
Shares in the magazine publisher opened 15% higher to £3.68 this morning on the FTSE 250 index.
Future’s CEO Zillah Byng-Thorne said: “Looking ahead, we expect our diversified strategy to continue to deliver and are well-positioned to continue to grow strongly. As we transition from the Covid-19-boosted comparators, we expect the growth to accelerate in H2 next year.
“We expect our operating model to drive enhanced scalability and operating leverage, leading to further margin expansion, and we are therefore upgrading our outlook for the full year and now expect adjusted results in FY 2022 to be materially above current expectations.”
