Publishing group Future (FUTR) gained 6% to £25.36 after posting better-than-expected, record first half results and guiding for a full year outcome ahead of expectations.
For the six months ended 31 March 2021, pre-tax profit rose 110% to £56.9 million year-on-year as revenue increased 89% to £272.6 million.
The more than doubling of profit was driven by the ‘media division’s organic growth of 30% and in particular digital advertising on-platform organic growth of 30% and eCommerce affiliates’ organic growth of 56%,’ the company said.
The group, which owns titles such as Marie Claire and Techradar, completed the acquisition of price comparison site Go Compare in February.
SUCCESSFUL STRATEGY
Future’s strategy is principally built on plugging acquired magazine titles into an existing platform in order to generate revenue from the specialist content and brands through a mix of digital advertising, e-commerce, getting readers to click through to partnered retailers and events.
The shares are now trading close to 20-year highs last seen during the dotcom boom in the early noughties.
Shore Capital analyst Roddy Davidson commented: ‘We are pleased to note the very strong trading momentum, continuing operational progress and highly encouraging outlook assessment within today’s release, remain bullish on Future’s organic growth potential and expect the integration of GoCompare to add value on both sides of the deal.’
