Future Expands Portolio With Beach Acquisition
Future Publishing has today announced its acquisition of Beach Magazines and Publishing Ltd and its three magazines Junior, Junior Pregnancy and Wedding Day.
The initial sale price was £1.5 million and this will go up to a further £1.5 million in a year if the business meets certain targets.
This is Future’s second purchase this month after acquiring What Laptop magazine from Crimson Publishing in early December (see Future Boosts Technology Portfolio With Laptop Magazine). It also bought Spanish Homes Magazine, PC Zone and Computer And Video Games this August (see Future Network Buys Games Mags For £2.5 Million).
Managing Director of Future Publishing, Robert Price said: “These are exciting times for Future. These titles take us into new special-interest areas while playing to our traditional strengths of publishing high-quality and deeply targeted magazines. The purchase is part of Future’s active UK growth strategy and these three magazines will enable us to move towards a more advertising-led publishing approach.”
He continued: “We also see significant opportunities for the titles in overseas markets.” There will be no major changes in the editorial content of any of the magazines and founder Chris Taggart will continue to run them.
Commenting on the sale, Taggart said: “Beach’s magazines lead their sectors in quality and innovation, not just in the UK but in the world. Future is a superb company that shares Beach’s commitment to editorial excellence and I am extremely excited by the growth potential this gives the magazines, particularly in overseas and new sectors.”
For the foreseeable future the magazines will continue to be published from Beach’s offices in West London.
Beach’s first title, Junior was launched in 1998 and is targeted at mothers with children up to 8 years old. The magazine is unique in attracting advertisers such as Dior, Ralph Lauren and Burberry.
Junior Pregnancy and Baby was launched out of Junior as a bimonthly last spring and in July moved to a monthly frequency. It targets brand and fashion conscious pregnant women and new mothers.
Wedding Day was bought last May from Crimson Publishing and is published bimonthly with a circulation of 31,679. The title is by no means at the top of its category, but caters for women getting married later in life and the increasing amounts being spent on weddings.
The recent purchases show a continuing trend in Future’s new more aggressive expansion in its magazine portfolio (see Future Appoints Marketing Head For Aggressive Strategy).
Future Publishing: 01225 442 244 www.futurenet.com
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