Stevie Spring, chief executive at Future, has said that she has no intention of making any acquisitions and will instead focus on getting the business back on track.
In an interview with the
Times Spring said that she believed Future’s biggest problem was that it had been too acquisitive.
Spring said: “With the acquisition of the Highbury House magazines for £30.5 million, we either paid too much or the titles seriously underperformed.”
The Times report says that instead of acquisitions Spring will now concentrate on re-energising the business, through disposing of non-core businesses such as the Italian language magazines and the possible sale of the French language business, and developing its online strategy.
Spring’s strategy for the Future, as outlined in the report, is to exploit all available media so that the publisher does not rely solely on magazines.
Spring is quoted as saying: “We have to go back to basics if we are going to make this business robust. My ambition is to deliver great content for the right place. Some things should be available instantly online and others monthly or annually…Podcasting is also important.”
Spring’s announcement comes after Future released financial results for the year ending September 30. The publisher’s profits fell by a third to £13.7 million in the year, with lower sales and ad revenues from its games magazines and the under performance of titles it acquired being blamed (see Future Looks Ahead After Disappointing Financial Results).
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