- Full-year targets confirmed
- £55 million buyback on track
- Shares up 34% over one year
Shares in Future (FUTR) were up 3% to 964.50p in early morning trading as the specialist media group said it was ‘on track to achieve market expectations’ for the year to September 2025.
The company-compiled consensus shows analysts forecasting revenue of £777 million, towards the top of the £758 million to £785 million range, and adjusted operating profit of £218 million, again towards the top of the £197 million to £223 million range.
‘RESILIENT’ MARKET
In its update for the four-month period to 31 January, the firm said magazine sales had remained resilient led by premium titles while the UK advertising market in general continued to be challenging.
The publishing firm saw an improvement in its B2C (business-to-consumer) division, with US digital advertising and e-commerce experiencing record year-on-year growth.
The company will announce its half-year results on 16 May.
The publishing firm, which also owns Go Compare, said the price comparison site saw a moderate performance in the first four months after a standout full year 2024 due to a slowdown in the car insurance switching market, but it was continuing to diversify into other areas including the home insurance market.
EXPERT VIEW
Johnathan Barrett, analyst at Panmure Liberum, was upbeat about the stock and especially the company’s progress in the US advertising market: ‘Our key takeaways are that high margin US advertising is performing very well with both a positive backdrop and optimisation strategy working. eCommerce is also performing well in the US and UK.’
The only sticking point for Future could be the UK market, said Barrett: ‘UK advertising is as expected tough albeit we flag confidence in deploying US innovation appears to be rising.’
